Propylene oxidation to acrolein example

After several years and millions of dollars were spent to develop a homogenous gas-phase oxidation process to produce propylene oxide, the development was terminated. This was a reaction classified as a 

Skipping the pilot-plant saved 1 to 2 million dollars and made it possible for the company to enter the acrylic market a full year ahead of the competition. It was assumed that the savings would be enough to pay for any changes in the production unit that might be needed. 

By this time, the construction of the production unit was underway, and in a great hurry a pilot-plant was constructed, the size of a single tube of the 4000 tube commercial reactor. Interestingly, when the glowing discharge 

Efficiency means component 1 made per component 3 converted, all in molar units. Data show that 89.7% of the converted propylene was accounted for by the formed acrolein. An additional 9.8% efficiency is indicated for acrylic acid. Efficiency to total useftil product was 99.5% as long as ignition of homogeneous reaction could be avoided 

The catalyst used for these studies was one that had been rejected by laboratory short tubular reactor experiments as a hotspot-type catalyst. This same type was recommended by another corporate lab with experience in catalyst formulations. The hotspot-type catalyst gave 3- 

---