Direct Gas-Phase Epoxidation of Propene with Hydrogen Peroxide on TS-1 Zeolite in a Microstructured Reactor

• Published in: Industrial & engineering chemistry research Vol. 47; no. 6; pp. 2086 - 2090
• Main Authors: Klemm, Elias, Dietzsch, Enrico, Schwarz, Thomas, Kruppa, Thomas, Lange de Oliveira, Armin, Becker, Frank, Markowz, Georg, Schirrmeister, Steffen, Schütte, Rüdiger, Caspary, Karl J, Schüth, Ferdi, Hönicke, Dieter
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 19.03.2008
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Chemical engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Reactors; Epoxidation; Hydrogen peroxide; Zeolite; Reactor
• ISSN: 0888-5885; 1520-5045
• DOI: 10.1021/ie071343+

Direct epoxidation of propene with hydrogen peroxide vapor was conducted in a microstructured reactor containing TS-1 catalyst coatings. At 140 °C, 1 bar, 5 vol % hydrogen peroxide, and 15 vol % propene, productivities of more than 1 kg of propene oxide per kg of catalyst and hour are obtained in lab scale, which is in an industrially highly relevant range. Excellent selectivities to propene oxide based on propene of >90% were reached. Potential and need for improvement lie in the propylene oxide selectivity based on hydrogen peroxide, which was observed to be about 25%. By increasing the molar excess of propene to about 6.6, propylene oxide selectivities related to hydrogen peroxide of up to 60% have been observed in the pilot plant.