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Background
Ethylene oxide is a highly versatile commodity chemical, which is used as
an intermediate for the production of a variety of chemicals. It also kills
bacteria, mold, and fungi, and is therefore used as a sterilant. During
World War I, it gained importance in industry and was produced on a
small scale for its use in the production of ethylene glycol, an engine
coolant, and the chemical weapon mustard gas. Ethylene oxide was once
used for the production of acrylonitrile but that was discontinued in 1966.
2. Ethylene Oxide Production
Ethylene oxide was first prepared in 1859 by Charles Wutz using a
potassium hydroxide solution to eliminate the hydrochloric acid from
ethylene chlorohydrin. In 1914 the ethylene chlorohydrin process was the
first technology to produce ethylene oxide commercially. The process
involves the reaction of ethylene with hypochlorous acid followed by
dehydrochlorination of the resulting chlorohydrin with lime to produce
ethylene oxide and calcium chloride. Although the selectivity of this
process was approximately 80%, the process itself was very inefficient and
caused pollution problem by generating large quantity of unwanted
chlorinated hydrocarbon byproducts. In 1931, Theodore Lefort
discovered a way to prepare ethylene oxide directly from ethylene and
oxygen with a silver catalyst, the direct oxidation processes. This process
was more economically competitive and soon replaced the ethylene
chlorohydrin process.
The direct oxidation technology is the dominant process to produce
ethylene oxide commercially today. It utilizes the catalytic oxidation of
ethylene with pure oxygen over a silver based catalyst to yield ethylene
oxide.
The oxygen-based process may have a higher operating cost, but the
initial capital costs are much lower compared to an air-based plant. The
air-based process requires more catalyst, more reactors, air purification
units, and a purge reactor system. This process introduces a large amount
of inert gas into the recycle stream, which must be vented to maintain
constant nitrogen concentration in the system. Consequently, the airbased process requires much higher initial construction cost for
compression, piping, and waste gas handling system than the oxygenbased plant. Alternatively, the pure oxygen- based process reduces the
quantities of inert gases introduced into the cycle. As a result, the majority
of the unconverted ethylene is recovered from the system. Due to these
reasons, the oxygen-based process is a more attractive choice.