Expoxidation of Hexafluoropropylene

摘要

The thermally-initiated, non-catalytic, gas-phase epoxidation of hexafluoropropyleneusing molecular oxygen was investigated using a copper, coil-type tubular reactor. The majorobjective was to optimize reaction conditions for the yield of hexafluoropropylene oxide, avaluable fluorocarbon intermediate. This was accomplished using a central compositeexperimental design. The reaction gave carbonyl fluoride, trifluoroacetyl fluoride,perfluorocyclopropane, hexafluoroacetone and hexafluoropropylene oxide as products. Thevariation of the yield of the epoxide with partial pressure of hexafluoropropylene and oxygen,as well as temperature and space time, was approximated using a quadratic response surfacemodel. An optimum point at a temperature of 216 oc, a HFP/O2 molar feed ratio of 1.21 and aspace time of 120 seconds, was identified, at which a hexafluoropropylene oxide yield of39.43% was predicted.