A Catalytic Distillation Process for the One Step Synthesis of Methyl Isobutyl Ketone from Acetone: Liquid Phase Kinetics of the Hydrogenation of Mesityl Oxide

摘要

The present economic and environmental incentives for the development of a viable one-step process for MIBK. production provide an excellent opportunity for the application of catalytic distillation (CD) technology. Here, the use of CD technology for the synthesis of MIBK from acetone is described and recent progress on this process development is reported. Specifically, the results of a study on the liquid phase kinetics of the liquid phase hydrogenation of mesityl oxide (MO) in acetone arc presented. Our preliminary spectroscopic results suggest that MO exists as a diadsorbed species with both the earbonyl and olefin groups coordinated to the catalyst. An empirical kinetic model was developed which will be incorporated into our three-phase non-equilibrium rate-based model for the simulation of yield and selectivity for the one step synthesis of MIBK via CD.