Patent ID: 7223875

Claim:
In a process for the manufacture of propylene oxide by the epoxidation reaction in a tertiary butyl alcohol stream (TBA) of propylene with tertiary butyl hydroperoxide (TBH) in the presence of a molybdenum catalyst in the form of a glycol-molybdate complex to produce a reaction product stream comprising unreacted propylene, propylene oxide, tertiary butyl alcohol, unreacted TBH, molybdenum catalyst in the form of a glycol-molybdate complex and impurities, the improvement comprising the steps of: (a) separating the reaction product stream into a recycled propylene stream, a propylene oxide stream, and a TBA process stream; (b) passing the TBA process stream through an ion exchange process comprising a weak base anion ion exchange resin to remove substantially all the molybdenum catalyst; and (c) regenerating the ion exchange resin with ammonium hydroxide, whereby the molybdenum catalyst is regenerated from the anion ion exchange resin in the ammonium form.