CO2 free production of ethylene oxide via liquid phase epoxidation of ethylene using niobium oxide incorporated mesoporous silica material as the catalyst

Muhammad Maqbool; Toheed Akhter; Muhammad Faheem; Sohail Nadeem; Chan Ho Park; Asif Mahmood

doi:10.1039/D2RA07240H

CO₂ free production of ethylene oxide via liquid phase epoxidation of ethylene using niobium oxide incorporated mesoporous silica material as the catalyst†

Muhammad Maqbool,^a Toheed Akhter,

*^a Muhammad Faheem,^a Sohail Nadeem,^a Chan Ho Park*^b and Asif Mahmood*^c

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Chemistry, University of Management and Technology, C-II, Johar Town, Lahore, Pakistan
E-mail: Toheed.akhter@umt.edu.pk

^b Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Gachon University, Seongnam, Republic of Korea
E-mail: chhopark@gachon.ac.kr

^c College of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, King Saud University, 11421 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
E-mail: ahayat@ksu.edu.sa

Abstract

Ethylene Oxide (EO) is an essential raw material used in various consumer products like different glycol derivatives, ethoxylates, and polymers. We hydrothermally synthesize niobium oxide incorporated with mesoporous silica material (Nb/MSM), an efficient catalyst for CO₂ free-ethylene oxide (EO) production via partial oxidation of ethylene. The structural properties of Nb/MSM catalysts were characterized using XRD, TEM, and N₂ adsorption–desorption. The catalytic activity of synthesized materials in liquid phase epoxidation (LPE) of ethylene was evaluated in the presence of peracetic acid (PAA) as an oxidant to avoid the production of CO₂ and also minimize metal leaching. GC chromatography was used to investigate the successful production of EO, and a peak with a retention time (RT) of 9.01 min served as confirmation. Various reaction parameters viz. temperature, catalyst concentration, ethylene to PAA molar ratio, and solvent effect were investigated in order to optimize the reaction conditions for enhancing the ethylene conversion and selectivity for EO production. By this approach, the challenges of greenhouse gas production and metal leaching were addressed which were associated with previously reported catalysts.

This article is part of the themed collection: 2023 RSC Advances Popular Advances Collection

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D2RA07240H
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 15 Nov 2022
Accepted: 28 Dec 2022
First published: 10 Jan 2023
This article is Open Access

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RSC Adv., 2023,13, 1779-1786

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CO₂ free production of ethylene oxide via liquid phase epoxidation of ethylene using niobium oxide incorporated mesoporous silica material as the catalyst

M. Maqbool, T. Akhter, M. Faheem, S. Nadeem, C. H. Park and A. Mahmood, RSC Adv., 2023, 13, 1779 DOI: 10.1039/D2RA07240H

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