Propylene oxide Conversion

Allyl alcohol is produced by the catalytic isomerization of propylene oxide at approximately 280°C. The reaction is catalyzed with lithium phosphate. A selectivity around 98% could be obtained at a propylene oxide conversion around 25% ... 

Methanol volumetric flow rate Propylene oxide volumetric flow rate Acid solution volumetric flow rate Feed inlet temperature Reaction temperature Chilled water inlet temperature Chilled water exit temperature Required propylene oxide conversion... 

The Reaction. Acrolein has been produced commercially since 1938. The first commercial processes were based on the vapor-phase condensation of acetaldehyde and formaldehyde (1). In the 1940s a series of catalyst developments based on cuprous oxide and cupric selenites led to a vapor-phase propylene oxidation route to acrolein (7,8). In 1959 Shell was the first to commercialize this propylene oxidation to acrolein process. These early propylene oxidation catalysts were capable of only low per pass propylene conversions (ca 15%) and therefore required significant recycle of unreacted propylene (9—11). 

In 1957 Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio) discovered bismuth molybdate catalysts capable of producing high yields of acrolein at high propylene conversions (>90%) and at low pressures (12). Over the next 30 years much industrial and academic research and development was devoted to improving these catalysts, which are used in the production processes for acrolein, acryUc acid, and acrylonitrile. AH commercial acrolein manufacturing processes known today are based on propylene oxidation and use bismuth molybdate based catalysts. 

The sulfuric acid hydrolysis may be performed as a batch or continuous operation. Acrylonitrile is converted to acrylamide sulfate by treatment with a small excess of 85% sulfuric acid at 80—100°C. A hold-time of about 1 h provides complete conversion of the acrylonitrile. The reaction mixture may be hydrolyzed and the aqueous acryhc acid recovered by extraction and purified as described under the propylene oxidation process prior to esterification. Alternatively, after reaction with excess alcohol, a mixture of acryhc ester and alcohol is distilled and excess alcohol is recovered by aqueous extractive distillation. The ester in both cases is purified by distillation. 

Certain bacterial strains convert propylene glycol to pymvic acid in the presence of thiamine (15) other strains do the conversion without thiamine (16). Propylene oxide is the principal product of the reaction of propylene glycol over a cesium impregnated siHca gel at 360°C in the presence of methyl ethyl ketone and xylene (17). 

In this process, the fine powder of lithium phosphate used as catalyst is dispersed, and propylene oxide is fed at 300°C to the reactor, and the product, ahyl alcohol, together with unreacted propylene oxide is removed by distihation (25). By-products such as acetone and propionaldehyde, which are isomers of propylene oxide, are formed, but the conversion of propylene oxide is 40% and the selectivity to ahyl alcohol reaches more than 90% (25). However, ahyl alcohol obtained by this process contains approximately 0.6% of propanol. Until 1984, ah ahyl alcohol manufacturers were using this process. Since 1985 Showa Denko K.K. has produced ahyl alcohol industriahy by a new process which they developed (6,7). This process, which was developed partiy for the purpose of producing epichlorohydrin via ahyl alcohol as the intermediate, has the potential to be the main process for production of ahyl alcohol. The reaction scheme is as fohows ... 

Hydroperoxide Process. The hydroperoxide process to propylene oxide involves the basic steps of oxidation of an organic to its hydroperoxide, epoxidation of propylene with the hydroperoxide, purification of the propylene oxide, and conversion of the coproduct alcohol to a useful product for sale. Incorporated into the process are various purification, concentration, and recycle methods to maximize product yields and minimize operating expenses. Commercially, two processes are used. The coproducts are / fZ-butanol, which is converted to methyl tert-huty ether [1634-04-4] (MTBE), and 1-phenyl ethanol, converted to styrene [100-42-5]. The coproducts are produced in a weight ratio of 3—4 1 / fZ-butanol/propylene oxide and 2.4 1 styrene/propylene oxide, respectively. These processes use isobutane (see Hydrocarbons) and ethylbenzene (qv), respectively, to produce the hydroperoxide. Other processes have been proposed based on cyclohexane where aniline is the final coproduct, or on cumene (qv) where a-methyl styrene is the final coproduct. 

An excess of 2—10 mol propylene to liydiopeioxide is used to maximize conversion of hydroperoxide and selectivity to propylene oxide. Temperature is... 

Ethylbenzene Hydroperoxide Process. Figure 4 shows the process flow sheet for production of propylene oxide and styrene via the use of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide (EBHP). Liquid-phase oxidation of ethylbenzene with air or oxygen occurs at 206—275 kPa (30—40 psia) and 140—150°C, and 2—2.5 h are required for a 10—15% conversion to the hydroperoxide. Recycle of an inert gas, such as nitrogen, is used to control reactor temperature. Impurities ia the ethylbenzene, such as water, are controlled to minimize decomposition of the hydroperoxide product and are sometimes added to enhance product formation. Selectivity to by-products include 8—10% acetophenone, 5—7% 1-phenylethanol, and <1% organic acids. EBHP is concentrated to 30—35% by distillation. The overhead ethylbenzene is recycled back to the oxidation reactor (170—172). 

EBHP is mixed with a catalyst solution and fed to a horizontal compartmentalized reactor where propylene is introduced into each compartment. The reactor operates at 95—130°C and 2500—4000 kPa (360—580 psi) for 1—2 h, and 5—7 mol propylene/1 mol EBHP are used for a 95—99% conversion of EBHP and a 92—96% selectivity to propylene oxide. The homogeneous catalyst is made from molybdenum, tungsten, or titanium and an organic acid, such as acetate, naphthenate, stearate, etc (170,173). Heterogeneous catalysts consist of titanium oxides on a siUca support (174—176). 

Noncatalytic oxidation of propylene to propylene oxide is also possible. Use of a small amount of aldehyde in the gas-phase oxidation of propylene at 200—350°C and up to 6900 kPa (1000 psi) results in about 44% selectivity to propylene oxide. About 10% conversion of propylene results (214—215). Photochemical oxidation of propylene with oxygen to propylene oxide has been demonstrated in the presence of a-diketone sensitizers and an aprotic solvent (216). 

Both fixed and fluid-bed reactors are used to produce acrylonitrile, but most modern processes use fluid-bed systems. The Montedison-UOP process (Figure 8-2) uses a highly active catalyst that gives 95.6% propylene conversion and a selectivity above 80% for acrylonitrile. The catalysts used in ammoxidation are similar to those used in propylene oxidation to acrolein. Oxidation of propylene occurs readily at... 

Other TUD-l catalysts proven for selective oxidation (16) include Au/Ti-Si-TUD-1 for converting propylene to propylene oxide (96% selectivity at 3.5% conversion see also (17), Ag/Ti-Si-TUD-1 for oxidizing ethylene to ethylene oxide (29% selectivity at 19.8% conversion), and Cr-Si-TUD-1 for cyclohexene to cyclohexene epoxide (94% selectivity at 46% conversion). 

In summary, the total oxidation of propylene to C02 occurred at a higher rate than partial oxidation to propylene oxide and acetone total and partial oxidations occurred in parallel pathways. The existence of the parallel reaction pathways over Rh/Al203 suggest that the selective poisoning of total oxidation sites could be a promising approach to obtain high selectivity toward PO under high propylene conversion. 

Chemical/Physical. The reported hydrolysis half-life for the conversion of propylene oxide to 1,2-propanediol in water at 25 °C and pH 7 is 14.6 d (Mabey and Mill, 1978). The second-order hydrolysis rate constant of propylene oxide in 3.98 mM perchloric acid and 36.3 °C is 0.124/M-sec (Kirkovsky et ah, 1998). 

The density of the polymer clearly shows the formation of a foamed polymer. The density values for selected foams together with the polyimide homopolymers are shown in Table 11. The density values for the ODPA/FDA and PM-DA/FDA polyimides were both 1.28 g/cm and 3FDA/PMDA is 1.34, while most of the propylene oxide-based copolymers showed substantially lower values. The densities of the foamed copolymers derived from these copolymers ranged from 1.09 to 1.27 g/cm, which is 85-99 % of that of the polyimide homopolymers. This is consistent with 1-15 % of the film being occupied by voids. From these data (i.e., the comparison of Tables 10 and 11), it appears that the volume fraction of voids or the porosity is substantially less than the volume fraction of propylene oxide in the copolymer (i.e., 70 % or less). Thus the efficiency of foam formation is poor. Conversely, the propylene oxide-based copolymers with PMDA/ODA as the imide component did not show the expected density drop, and the values were essentially identical to that of the homopolymer. In PM-DA/ODA-based systems, molecular ordering and orientation were found to be critical in determining the stability of the foam structure. Where the character-... 

Carbon dioxide is one of the most abundant carbon resources on earth. It reacts with an epoxide to give either a cyclic carbonate or a polycarbonate depending on the substrates and reaction conditions. Kinetic resolution of racemic propylene oxide is reported in the formation of both cyclic carbonate and polycarbonate. The fe ei value defined as ln[l-(conversion)(l+%ee)]/ln[l-(conversion)(l% ee)] reached 6.4 or 5.6 by using a Co(OTs)-salen complex with tetrabutylammonium chloride under neat propylene oxide or using a combination of a Co-salen complex and a chiral DMAP derivative in dichloromethane, respectively. 

A process, which uses propene bromohydrin as an intermediate, has been extensively studied as a route for the conversion of propene to propylene oxide [62, 63], The electrolyte is an aqueous solution of sodium bromide saturated with propene gas. An undivided flow cell fitted with a graphite anode is used. Overall, propylene oxide and hydrogen are generated in the sequence of cell reactions given in Scheme 2.3. 

Scheme Electrochemical conversion of propene to propylene oxide in an undivided cell, catalysed by bromide ions.

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