Patent ID: 11919876
Assignee: EXXONMOBIL TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING COMPANY
Field: Organic fine chemistry (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C | IPC C

Claim 12:
13. A process for producing olefin epoxides, comprising:
oxidizing a branched alkane stream comprising isobutane to produce at least t-butyl hydroperoxide;
epoxidizing isobutylene by a catalytic reaction with at least a portion of the t-butyl hydroperoxide to produce at least isobutylene epoxide and t-butyl alcohol;
dehydrating at least a portion of the t-butyl alcohol to produce water and additional isobutylene for the step of epoxidizing; and
dehydrating and hydrogenating at least a portion of the t-butyl alcohol in the presence of hydrogen and a bifunctional catalyst to produce at least water and additional branched alkane, wherein the branched alkane from the step of oxidizing comprises a quantity of the additional branched alkane produced in the converting, and wherein the bifunctional catalyst comprises a hydrogenation function and a dehydration function.