Ethylene oxide – kinetics and mechanism

Ethylene oxide is one of the most important intermediates in the chemical industry, being used for reactions with ethylene, water, alcohols and organic acids. No general agreement exists today, however, concerning its reaction mechanism and kinetics.Microreactors were proposed as a suitable technology for ethylene oxide production and as tools for rapid and precise investigations of epoxidation kinetics. An evaluation of previously proposed kinetic models was carried out, and rival kinetic models for the epoxidation reaction were screened with experimental data obtained with a laboratory-scale microreactor system. A new, more general kinetic model was proposed for ethylene oxide formation on silver catalysts.

► Silver is the dominating ethylene epoxidation catalyst and no general agreement on the reaction mechanism exists.
► Microreactors are important tools in kinetic studies.
► A general epoxidation mechanism was proposed for silver catalysts.