Isobutane catalytic oxidation

Isobutane process i-C4Hio, air One-step catalytic oxidation Several companies... 

In the C4 coproduct route isobutane is oxidized with oxygen at 130-160°C and under pressure to tert-BuOOH, which is then used in epoxidation. In the styrene coproduct process ethylbenzene hydroperoxide is produced at 100-130°C and at lower pressure (a few atmospheres) and is then applied in isobutane oxidation. Epoxidations are carried out in high excess of propylene at about 100°C under high pressure (20-70 atm) in the presence of molybdenum naphthenate catalyst. About 95% epoxide selectivity can be achieved at near complete hydroperoxide and 10-15% propylene conversions. Shell developed an alternative, heterogeneous catalytic system (T1O2 on SiOi), which is employed in a styrene coproduct process.913 914... 

Fig. 20 Examples of CTL spectra during catalytic oxidation of methanol, ethylene, and isobutane on y-ALCbiDy...

Catalytic Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Isobutane in a Pd Membrane Reactor... 

Table 4.8-2 Results of the catalytic oxidation of isobutane by air in the supercritical phase or the gas phase. Conditions isobutane/air = 3/1, W/F =10 g-h/mol, catalyst weight 0.5 g, temperature 153 °C.

Matis G, Juillet F, Teichner SJ (1976) Catalytic oxidation of paraffins on nickel oxide-based catalysts. I. Selectivity in the partial oxidation of isobutane and propane. Bull Soc Chim Fr 1633-1636 Pajonk GM (1991) Aerogel catalysts. Appl Catal 72 217-276... 

Indirect oxidation of propylene is an important route for propylene oxide production that proceeds in two reaction steps. The first step is the formation of a peroxide from alkanes, aldehydes, or adds by oxidation with air or oxygen. The second reaction step is the epoxidation of propylene to PO by oxygen transfer from the peroxide with formation of water, alcohol, or acid. The catalytic oxidation of propylene with organic hydroperoxides is nowadays a successful commercial production route (51% of world capacity). Two organic hydroperoxides dominate the processes (i) a process using isobutane (peroxide tert-butyl hydroperoxide, co-product tert-butyl alcohol), which accounts for 15% of the world capacity and (ii) a process using ethylbenzene (peroxide ethylbenzene hydroperoxide, co-product styrene) that accounts for 33% of the world capacity. The process via isobutane is presented by ... 

Li, W. and Ueda, W. (1997). Catalytic Oxidation of Isobutane to Methacrylic Acid with Molecular Oxygen over Activated Pyridinium 12-Molybdophosphate, Catal. Lett., 46, pp. 261-265. 

The competitive process, the Oxirane process, starts either from isobutane or from ethylbenzene. This starting materials are converted to hydroperoxides by catalytic oxidation with air or oxygen to give tert-butyl hydroperoxide or ethylbenzene hydroperoxide. The hydroperoxides oxidize the propene in the presence of catalysts to give propylene oxide, and as byproducts either tert-butyl alcohol (2.8 t/t PO), which is converted to methyl-tert-butyl ether, or 1-phenyl-ethanol (2.5 t/t PO), which is converted to vinylbenzene (styrene). 

Another well-studied process, in which significant progress has been made, involves the oxidation of propane to acrylic acid. (See Table 9.3.) These results are quite impressive, with selectivity reported in excess of 80%. By contrast, direct catalytic oxidation of isobutane to methacrylic acid has been less developed. Sumitomo has reported that 42% methacrylic acid can be obtained at 25% conversion. 

Butane-Naphtha Catalytic Liquid-Phase Oxidation. Direct Hquid-phase oxidation ofbutane and/or naphtha [8030-30-6] was once the most favored worldwide route to acetic acid because of the low cost of these hydrocarbons. Butane [106-97-8] in the presence of metallic ions, eg, cobalt, chromium, or manganese, undergoes simple air oxidation in acetic acid solvent (48). The peroxidic intermediates are decomposed by high temperature, by mechanical agitation, and by action of the metallic catalysts, to form acetic acid and a comparatively small suite of other compounds (49). Ethyl acetate and butanone are produced, and the process can be altered to provide larger quantities of these valuable materials. Ethanol is thought to be an important intermediate (50) acetone forms through a minor pathway from isobutane present in the hydrocarbon feed. Formic acid, propionic acid, and minor quantities of butyric acid are also formed. 

The process can be modified to give predominandy or solely /-butyl alcohol. Thus, /-butyl hydroperoxide (and /-butyl alcohol) produced by oxidation of isobutane in the first step of the process can be decomposed under controlled, catalytic conditions to give gasoline grade /-butyl alcohol (GTBA) in high selectivity (19—22). 

The various sources of isobutylene are C streams from fluid catalytic crackers, olefin steam crackers, isobutane dehydrogenation units, and isobutylene produced by Arco as a coproduct with propylene oxide. Isobutylene concentrations (weight basis) are 12 to 15% from fluid catalytic crackers, 45% from olefin steam crackers, 45 to 55% from isobutane dehydrogenation, and high purity isobutylene coproduced with propylene oxide. The etherification unit should be designed for the specific feedstock that will be processed. 

Catalytic testings have been performed using the same rig and a conventional fixed-bed placed in the inner volume of the tubular membrane. The catalyst for isobutane dehydrogenation [9] was a Pt-based solid and sweep gas was used as indicated in Fig. 2. For propane oxidative dehydrogenation a V-Mg-0 mixed oxide [10] was used and the membrane separates oxygen and propane (the hydrocarbon being introduced in the inner part of the reactor). 

After a steady catalytic behavior was reached, the catalyst was treated in air at 350°C, in order to reoxidize it. Thereafter, the reaction was run again under isobutane-rich conditions (Figure 14.5), in order to understand the role of the POM reduction level on catalytic performance. The reoxidized catalyst exhibited a selectivity to methacrylic acid that was initially around 20%, and approximately 20-30 hours were necessary to recover the original performance of the equilibrated, reduced catalyst. On the contrary, the activity of the catalyst was almost the same as before the oxidizing treatment. This confirms that a partially reduced POM is intrinsically more selective to methacrylic acid than a fully oxidized one, and that one reason for the progressive increase in selectivity to methacrylic acid that occurs during the equilibration period was the increase in the POM reduction level, as a consequence of the operation under isobutane-rich conditions. 

The catalytic performance depends a great deal on the reaction conditions, and specifically on the isobutane-to-oxygen ratio in the feed. Usually isobutane-rich conditions are claimed to be more selective, and the reason for this is that under these conditions the operative POM is a partially reduced one, and a more reduced POM is intrinsically more selective than a fully oxidized one. High isobutane partial pressures help to improve the selectivity, avoiding further oxidation of methacrylic acid. 

One of the most important challenges in the modern chemical industry is represented by the development of new processes aimed at the exploitation of alternative raw materials, in replacement of technologies that make use of building blocks derived from oil (olefins and aromatics). This has led to a scientific activity devoted to the valorization of natural gas components, through catalytic, environmentally benign processes of transformation (1). Examples include the direct exoenthalpic transformation of methane to methanol, DME or formaldehyde, the oxidation of ethane to acetic acid or its oxychlorination to vinyl chloride, the oxidation of propane to acrylic acid or its ammoxidation to acrylonitrile, the oxidation of isobutane to... 

C4 Alkenes. Several industrial processes have been developed for olefin production through catalytic dehydrogenation138 166 167 of C4 alkenes. All four butenes are valuable industrial intermediates used mostly for octane enhancement. Isobutylene, the most important isomer, and its dimer are used to alkylate isobutane to produce polymer and alkylate gasoline (see Section 5.5.1). Other important utilizations include oxidation to manufacture maleic anhydride (see Section 9.5.4) and hydroformylation (see Section 7.1.3). 

Because the reaction is catalytic in ferf-butyl cation and the deprotonation/ reprotonation steps are very fast, extensive regioselective deuteriation of the isoalkane is observed at room temperature as shown by GC-MS analysis. The absence of mass 68 (d10-isobutane) and the presence of mass 64 due to S02 formation in the oxidative process are typical features in accord with the oxidative activation of the alkane and the Markovnikov-type addition of deuterons on the intermediate isobutylene (14). However, the exchange process does not take place in the presence of carbon monoxide, which traps the ferf-butyl cation and prevents deprotonation (Scheme 5.7). 

Other catalytic reactions carried out in fluidized-bed reactors are the oxidation of naphthalene to phthalic anhydride [2, 6, 80] the ammoxidation of isobutane to mcthacrylonitrilc [2] the synthesis of maleic anhydride from the naphtha cracker C4 fraction (Mitsubishi process [81, 82]) or from n-butane (ALMA process [83], [84]) the reaction of acetylene with acetic acid to vinyl acetate [2] the oxychlorination of ethylene to 1,2-di-chloroethane [2, 6, 85, 86] the chlorination of methane [2], the reaction of phenol with methanol to cresol and 2,6-xylenol [2, 87] the reaction of methanol to gasoline... 

A homogeneous catalytic process, developed by Oxirane, uses a molybdenum catalyst that epoxidizes propylene by transferring an oxygen atom from tertiary butyl hydroperoxide. This is shown by 8.28. The hydroperoxide is obtained by the auto-oxidation of isobutane. The co-product of propylene oxide, /-butanol, finds use as an antiknock gasoline additive. It is also used in the synthesis of methyl /-butyl ether, another important gasoline additive. The over-... 

Isobutene is present in refinery streams. Especially C4 fractions from catalytic cracking are used. Such streams consist mainly of n-butenes, isobutene and butadiene, and generally the butadiene is first removed by extraction. For the purpose of MTBE manufacture the amount of C4 (and C3) olefins in catalytic cracking can be enhanced by adding a few percent of the shape-selective, medium-pore zeolite ZSM-5 to the FCC catalyst (see Fig. 2.23), which is based on zeolite Y (large pore). Two routes lead from n-butane to isobutene (see Fig. 2.24) the isomerization/dehydrogenation pathway (upper route) is industrially practised. Finally, isobutene is also industrially obtained by dehydration of f-butyl alcohol, formed in the Halcon process (isobutane/propene to f-butyl alcohol/ propene oxide). The latter process has been mentioned as an alternative for the SMPO process (see Section 2.7). 

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