Partial oxidation of propylene by using cesium-silver immobilized ceramic-membrane reactor

Abstract

T he epoxidation of propylene to propylene oxide in a heterogeneous system was studied by using a Micro Porous Glass (MPG) membrane reactor immobilized with cesium-silver (Cs-Ag) catalysts. For a quantitative evaluation of the membrane reactor efficiency to produce a propylene oxide, three different reactor systems were compared by using a diffusion flow reactor (DFR), convection flow reactor (CFR) and plug flow reactor (PFR). CFR was observed to be the most suitable reactor for synthesis of propylene oxide because of a reaction stability. The steady state rate analysis of CFR consistently proposed the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model equation based on two different active sites adsorption for the synthesis of propylene oxide and a competitive adsorption on a single active site for the synthesis of carbon dioxide.