Water As a Reaction Solvent - An Industry Perspective

Biphasic techniques for recovery and recycle are among the recent improvements of homogeneous catalysis, and they are the only developments that have been recently and successfully applied in the chemical industry. Among the hydroformylation processes they form a fourth generation of oxo processes.They are estabhshed as the Ruhrchemie/Rhone-Poulenc process (RCH/RP process), with aimual production rates of approximately 800,000 tons/year (tpy). 

Acccording to the early scientists recommending and developing this process -Manassen/Whitehurst and Joo, biphasic stands for the use of two immiscible liquid phases, 

This chapter will concentrate on the industrial-scale hydroformylation of propylene by means of rhodium catalysts, modified by water-soluble ligands such as TPPTS (triphe-nylphosphine m-trisulfonate). Some other developments will also be mentioned. 

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