Integrated process for making propene and propene oxide from propane

US10597374B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• Evonik Operations GmbH · DE
• THYSSENKRUPP INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS AG · DE

Inventors

• Holger Wiederhold · Darmstadt, DE
• David BOLZ · Frankfurt, DE
• Georg Thiele · Hanau, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: May 11, 2017
• Grant date: Mar 24, 2020
• Expiry date: May 11, 2037

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02P20/10
• WIPO field: Organic fine chemistry
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

The integrated process comprises a step a) of dehydrogenating propane providing a stream S1 comprising propane and propene; a step b) of separating stream S1 in at least one rectification column, providing an overhead product stream S2 comprising more than 99% by weight propene, a side stream S3 comprising from 90 to 98% by weight propene and a bottoms product stream S4 enriched in propane; a step c) of reacting propene with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of an epoxidation catalyst using propene in molar excess; and a step d) of separating non-reacted propene and propene oxide from the reaction mixture of step c) providing a propene oxide product and a stream S5 comprising propene and propane; wherein stream S3 is passed to step c), stream S5 is recycled to step b) and stream S4 is recycled to step a).