Reaction Simulation Studies as Aid for Further Scale-Up

Palladium oxidizes methyl acrylate in the presence of methanol to form 3-methoxy methyl acrylate and equimolar amounts of water with a reaction rate R3. Reduced Pd is reoxidized by the Fe/Gu cocatalyst with a reaction rate R2 producing a reduced Fe/Gu cocatalyst, which is reoxidized by oxygen. The palladium catalyst is also responsible for the formation of by-products from oxidation of methanol (methyl formate, dimethoxymethane). 3-Methoxy methyl acrylate 

Chart 11.3 compares experimental with simulated substrate conversion and product formation using a Pd/Cu/Fe/methyl acrylate ratio of 1/500/500/25000 at 70 °C and oxygen pressure of 0.2 MPa at a methanol/methyl acrylate ratio of 

Simulations also provided the basis for the experiments described in Section 11.3.2 related to Chart 11.2. The highly relevant result from these simulations that at a high (Cu, Fe)/Pd ratio the rate is independent on the oxygen pressure was fully confirmed experimentally and allowed us to use low partial oxygen pressures without catalyst deactivation while achieving safe processing. This example demonstrates how simulation of reaction conditions led to improvement of the design of the catalytic system. We use this simulation tool for further scale-up to 1000 t/year. 

IMP = impurity, 3H3M = 3-hydroxy-3-methoxy methyl propionate, DMM = dimethoxy methylene, and MF = methyl formate) [9], 

Chart 11.3 Real experiment versus simulated experiment, = substrate conversion and = product yield. 

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