ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Direct synthesis of propylene oxide using hydrogen peroxide in a membrane reactor

Yu Guo, Yujia Jin, Hongmei Wu, Dongxin Li, Xianfeng Fan, Lidai Zhou, and Xiongfu Zhang

School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Liaoning University of TechnologyJinzhou, People’s Republic of China

E-mail: guoyulnut@163.com

Abstract: The epoxidation of propylene to propylene oxide (PO) with hydrogen peroxide was carried out in a titanium silicalite-1 (TS-1) catalytic membrane reactor. The TS-1 catalytic membrane with a thickness of 4–5 μm was fabricated on a tubular porous α-Al₂O₃ substrate. The structure and morphology of the membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer, FT-IR, and a UV–vis spectrometer. Reaction conditions including temperature, pressure and H₂O₂ concentration were investigated for their effects on H₂O₂ conversion, PO selectivity and PO formation rate. The PO formation rate on the TS-1 catalytic membrane is more than twice as high as that on the TS-1 powder catalyst. Moreover, the regeneration tests of the TS-1 membrane reactor showed that the catalytic membrane kept relatively stable H₂O₂ conversion of and PO selectivity for eight reactions.

Keywords: Membrane reactor; Propylene oxide; Epoxidation; Titanium silicalite-1; Hydrogen peroxide

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-016-0035-1

Chemical Papers 71 (1) 49–57 (2017)