Direct formation of propanol from a dilute ethylene feed via reductive-hydroformylation using homogeneous rhodium catalysts at low feed pressures

• Published in: Applied catalysis. A, General Vol. 421-422; pp. 161 - 163
• Main Authors: Rodriguez, Brandon A., Tenn, William J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 16-04-2012; Elsevier
• Subjects: Alcohols; Aldehydes; Catalysis; Chemistry; Dilution; Ethylene; Exact sciences and technology; General and physical chemistry; Homogeneous; Hydroformylation; Olefins; Phosphines; Propanol; Rhodium; Theory of reactions, general kinetics. Catalysis. Nomenclature, chemical documentation, computer chemistry; Catalysis; Propanol; Homogeneous; Hydroformylation; Rhodium complex; Catalytic reaction; Phosphine; Ethylene; Alcohol; Transition metal; Aldehyde; Synthesis gas; Hydrogenation; Olefin; Partial pressure; Rhodium; Alkyl; Homogeneous catalysis; Low pressure; Alkanol; Aryl; Platinoid; Ethylenic compound
• ISSN: 0926-860X; 1873-3875
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apcata.2012.02.013

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► Reductive Hydroformylation of ethene to propanol with homogeneous rhodium catalysts. ► Performed on dilute feed streams to simulate waste streams currently burned as fuel. ► Several commercially available phosphine ligands explored. ► Tested at a variety of ethylene:hydrogen:CO ratios to identify best feed composition. ► Observed correlations between product selectivity and catalyst decomposition.
This work details a system for the direct production of propanol from a dilute ethylene stream by reductive hydroformylation catalyzed by soluble rhodium complexes coordinated to tri-aryl or tri-alkyl phosphines.
Typically, in commercial production, normal alcohols are produced from primary olefins via a two step process consisting of hydroformylation of the olefins to aldehydes, followed by subsequent hydrogenation of the aldehydes to the corresponding alcohols. This work describes a method to produce propanol directly from dilute ethylene feeds.
In addition, the partial pressures of the syngas used in these experiments are significantly lower (approximately an order of magnitude) than reported for nearly all of the other rhodium catalyzed reductive-hydroformylation systems (0.7–70atm vs. ∼20–700atm).