Measurement And Correlation Of Phase Equilibria Data For C₃H₆-1-C₃H₇OH-H₂O₂-H₂O Quaternary System

Propylene oxide?PO?, an important chemical intermediate used in the synthesis of polyether polyols, propylene glycols, and propylene glycol ethers, has become increasingly important in the chemical industry since 1950 s. Until a decade ago, the industrial technologies for producing propylene oxide from propylene were predominantly based on the processes of chlorohydrination and cooxidation. However, both methods suffer from several disadvantages. Compared with the PO production processes mentioned above, the process of epoxidizing propylene with hydrogen peroxide-to-propylene oxide?HPPO? catalyzed by TS-1 is advantageous in the aspects of co-products and environmental friendliness and consists with the current principles of Green Chemistry.As a heterogeneous reaction, the novel technique uses aqueous hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant. Propylene is fed as gas, which is transported to the liquid phase containing the oxidant, catalyst and light alcohols as co-solvent that improves the solubility of propylene. In addition, the solubility of propylene in the mixture of light alcohols and aqueous hydrogen peroxide is also essential to study the kinetics of propylene epoxidation and design the equipment. Therefore, studying on the solubility of propylene in the mixture of aqueous hydrogen peroxide and light alcohols solvent not only has important theory significance, but also has important application value in engineering.Although lots of work has been carried out, many solubility data of propylene in hydrogen peroxide and light alcohols solutions are still unavailable and challenging to obtain because of their structural characteristics and highly non-ideal thermodynamic behavior in these mixtures.In this paper, the experimental phase equilibria data for the quaternary systems?C₃H₆-1-C₃H₇OH-H₂O₂-H₂O? were measured at the temperatures of 293.2 K, 303.2 K, 313.2 K and 323.2 K and pressures from 1.00 MPa to 5.00 MPa. The original mole ratios of 1-propanol to H2O2?1-C3H7 OH H2O2n: n? were 10:1, 7:1, 5:1, 3:1 and 1:1, respectively. The measurements were carried out in a cylindrical autoclave with a moveable piston and an observation window which has been made domestically for the first time.The experimental data were correlated using the non-random two-liquid?NRTL? by Aspen Plus. The interaction parameters of the quaternary systems were obtained.