Validation of the kinetics of the hydrogen peroxide propene oxide process in a dynamic continuous stirred tank reactor

Abstract

A continuous hydrogen peroxide propene oxide (HPPO) lab-scale pilot plant was designed and tested for the production of propene oxide via HPPO process. The plant was equipped with a continuous stirred tank reactor, able to work under nitrogen pressure with liquid propene. Attention was paid to the feed system and the plant control, the lab-scale pilot plant being completely automated. Hydraulic tests were performed to check the performance of the plant; a fluid-dynamic characterization was conducted to evaluate the residence time distribution. Propene oxide synthesis experiments were performed to evaluate both hydrogen peroxide conversion and propene oxide selectivity. The collected data were interpreted with a recently published kinetics, validating the developed model, obtaining satisfactory results, also in simulating the start-up transient state of the reactor. The model can be considered of high utility in designing and optimizing HPPO process, to achieve high reactant conversions and propene oxide yields.