Process for producing propylene oxide

US8927745B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• BASF SE
• THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY · US

Inventors

• Philip Kampe · Singapore, SG
• Peter Resch · Hettenleidelheim, DE
• Soo Yin Chin · Mannheim, DE
• Peter Bassler · Viernheim, DE
• Ulrich Mueller · Hamburg, DE
• Goetz-Peter Schindler · Mannheim, DE
• Hans-Georg Goebbel · Kallstadt, DE
• Joaquim Henrique Teles · Waldsee, DE
• Kai Gumlich · Mannheim, DE
• Thomas Grassler · Schifferstadt, DE
• Christian Bartosch · Ludwigshafen am Rhein, DE
• Richard Jacubinas · Somerville, US
• Meinolf Weidenbach · Stade, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: May 5, 2010
• Grant date: Jan 6, 2015
• Expiry date: Oct 22, 2030

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02P20/52
• WIPO field: Organic fine chemistry
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A process for producing propylene oxide comprising reacting propene with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a catalyst to give a mixture (G1) comprising propylene oxide, unreacted propene, and oxygen; separating propylene oxide from mixture (G1) to give a mixture (GII) comprising propene and oxygen; and adding hydrogen to mixture (GII) and reducing the oxygen comprised in mixture (GII) at least partially by reaction with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst comprising copper in elemental and/or oxidic form on a support, wherein copper is present on the support in an amount of 30 to 80 wt.-% based on the whole catalyst and calculated as CuO.