An electrocatalytic reactor for the high selectivity production of sodium 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoropropionate from 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-1-propanol

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• MnOx/Ti electrode as anode constituted an electrocatalytic reactor (ECR).
• ECR was used for the oxidation of TFP to produce STFP.
• RSM was employed to optimize the operating parameters of ECR.
• 91.9% conversion of TFP and 99.9% selectivity of STFP were obtained.
• The interaction of RT and reaction temperature was the most significant.

In order to realize green and highly selective oxidation of 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoro-1-propanol (TFP) into high value-added chemicals-sodium 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoropropionate (STFP), a functional electrocatalytic reactor (ECR) with nano-MnOx loading porous Ti electrode as anode was used for the oxidation of TFP to produce 2,2,3,3-tetrafluopropionic acid (TFPA), which reacted with the electrolyte-NaOH to yield STFP. During the ECR operation, the effects of operation parameters such as pH value of the feed, residence time (RT), reaction temperature, current density and TFP concentration on TFP conversion and selectivity to STFP were investigated. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to further optimize the effect and interaction of different operation parameters on TFP conversion according to the single factor experiment results. It is found that the interaction of RT and reaction temperature was the most significant. The conversion of TFP reached to 91.9% with a selectivity to STFP over 99.9% under the optimum conditions of reaction temperature 80 °C, RT 25 min, TFP concentration 26.3 mmol L−1 and current density 3.4 mA cm−2. The high performance obtained is associated with the synergistic effect between electrochemical oxidation and convection-enhanced diffusion in the ECR.

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