A PROCESS FOR THE EPOXIDATION OF ETHYLENE WITH OXYGEN COMPRISING CONTROL OF THE FEED COMPOSITION

摘要

A process for the epoxidation of an olefin, which process comprises reacting afeed comprising the olefin, oxygen and a reaction modifier in the presence ofa silver-based catalyst with the reaction modifier being present in a relativequantity Q which is the ratio of an effective molar quantity of active speciesof the reaction modifier present in the feed to an effective molar quantity ofhydrocarbons present in the feed, and which process comprises the steps of:-operating at a first operating phase wherein the value of Q is Q1, and-subsequently operating at a second operating phase wherein the feedcomposition is different from the feed composition employed in the firstoperating phase, such that the value of Q is Q2, whereby the value of thequotient Q2/Q1 is in the range of from 0.5 to 1.5; a system suitable forperforming the process; and a computer program product and a computer systemsuitable for use in connection with the process.