Process for producing epoxides
View Patent ↗A process for producing epoxides, the process including: (a) feeding at least one aqueous alkali and at least one halohydrin to a reactive distillation column; (b) concurrently in the reactive distillation column: (i) reacting at least a portion of the halohydrin with the alkali to form an epoxide; and (ii) stripping water and the epoxide from a basic aqueous residue; (c) recovering the water and the epoxide from the reactive distillation column as an overheads fraction; and, (d) condensing and phase separating the overheads fraction at a temperature of 50° C. or less to form an organic overheads fraction including the epoxide and an aqueous overheads fraction including water.
1. A process for producing epoxides, the process comprising:
(a) feeding at least one aqueous alkali and at least one halohydrin to a reactive distillation column;
(b) concurrently in the reactive distillation column:
(i) reacting at least a portion of the halohydrin with the alkali to form an epoxide; and
(ii) stripping water and the epoxide from a basic aqueous residue;
(c) recovering the water and the epoxide from the reactive distillation column as an overheads fraction;
(d) condensing and phase separating the overheads fraction at a temperature of 50° C. or less to form an organic overheads fraction comprising the epoxide and an aqueous overheads fraction comprising water; wherein a residence time for the aqueous overheads fraction in the overhead system is 1 hour or less.
2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the condensing and phase separating is performed at a temperature of 30° C. or less.
3. The process of claim 1 , further comprising feeding at least a portion of the aqueous overheads fraction to the distillation column reactor as reflux.
4. The process of claim 1 , further comprising feeding at least a portion of the organic overheads fraction to an epoxide purification system.
5. The process of claim 1 , further comprising contacting the halohydrin and the aqueous alkali in a reactor to convert at least a portion of the halohydrin to epoxide prior to the feeding.
6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the halohydrin comprises at least one of 1-chloro-2-ethanol; 1-chloro-2-propanol; 2-chloro-1-propanol; 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol; 2,3-dichloro -1-propanol; 1-chloro-2-butanol; and 2-chloro-1-butanol.
7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous alkali comprises at least one of sodium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide.
8. The process of claim 7 , wherein the aqueous alkali further comprises at least one of a sodium halide salt and a calcium halide salt.
9. The process of claim 1 , wherein a halohydrin conversion is at least 98 mole percent, and wherein a selectivity to the epoxide is at least 98%.
10. A process for producing epichlorohydrin, the process comprising:
(a) feeding at least one aqueous alkali and at least one halohydrin comprising at least one of 1,3-dichloropropanol and 2,3-dichloropropanol to a reactive distillation column;
(b) concurrently in the distillation column reactor:
(i) reacting at least a portion of the dichloropropanol with the alkali to form epichlorohydrin; and
(ii) stripping water and the epichlorohydrin from a basic aqueous residue;
(c) recovering the water and the epichlorohydrin from the reactive distillation column as an overheads fraction; and
(d) condensing and phase separating the overheads fraction at a temperature of 50° C. or less to form an organic overheads fraction comprising the epichlorohydrin and an aqueous overheads fraction comprising water; wherein a residence time for the aqueous overheads fraction in the overhead system is 1 hour or less.
11. The process of claim 10 , wherein the condensing and phase separating is performed at a temperature of 30° C. or less.
12. The process of claim 10 , wherein a residence time for the aqueous overheads fraction in the overhead system is 0.5 hour or less.
13. The process of claim 10 , further comprising feeding at least a portion of the aqueous overheads fraction to the distillation column reactor as reflux.
14. The process of claim 10 , further comprising feeding at least a portion of the organic overheads fraction to an epichlorohydrin purification system.
15. The process of claim 10 , further comprising contacting the dichloropropanol and the aqueous alkali in a reactor to convert at least a portion of the dichloropropanol to epichlorohydrin prior to the feeding.
16. The process of claim 10 , wherein the aqueous alkali comprises at least one of sodium hydroxide and calcium hydroxide.
17. The process of claims 16 , wherein the aqueous alkali further comprises at least one of a sodium halide salt and a calcium halide salt.
18. The process of claim 10 , wherein the dichloropropanol conversion is at least 98 mole percent, and wherein the selectivity to epichlorohydrin is at least 98 mole percent.