Patent ID: 7985867
Filing Date: 2011-07-26
Classification: B01D,C07D,Y02P

Abstract:
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, wherein the reactive distillation column comprises three distinct reaction zones comprising (i) a feed zone, (ii) a top zone disposed above the feed zone, and (iii) a bottom zone disposed below the feed zone, wherein each of the feed, top, and bottoms zones comprise at least one plate for mass transfer; (b) concurrently in the reactive distillation column: (c) recovering the water and the epoxide from the reactive distillation column as an overheads fraction; (d) condensing and phase separating the overheads fraction to form an organic overheads fraction comprising the epoxide and an aqueous overheads fraction comprising water; (e) maintaining a liquid holdup per plate in the feed zone at a residence time of 10 seconds or less; (f) maintaining a liquid holdup per plate in the top zone at a residence time of 20 seconds or less; and (g) maintaining a liquid holdup per plate in the bottom zone at a residence time of 10 seconds or greater.