Patent ID: 7786317

Claim:
A process for the epoxidation of propene, comprising (a) reacting propene with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of methanol as solvent and a titanium zeolite catalyst and separating propylene oxide from the resulting reaction mixture to obtain a mixture (Ma) comprising methanol, water, at least one carboxylic acid having from 1 to 3 carbon atoms and at least one carbonyl compound having from 1 to 3 carbon atoms, wherein the carbonyl compound is an aldehyde or a ketone; (b) at least partially neutralizing the at least one carboxylic acid comprised in mixture (Ma) by adding a base to mixture (Ma) to obtain a mixture (Mb); (c) separating methanol from mixture (Mb) by distillation; (d) at least partially recycling the methanol obtained from (c) into (a).