Selective oxidation of propylene to propylene glycol in supercritical media

We have studied solid supported copper and iron halide containing catalysts with a feed composition of propylene, water, and air in carbon dioxide under supercritical conditions. Generally, only a stoichiometric amount of water was used to avoid catalyst leaching and reactor corrosion. Numerous heterogeneous catalysts were evaluated in both a batch and a continous flow, fixed bed reactor under a range of process variable conditions. This work will be discussed within. In most reactions the selectivity to PG was high at 95%. The highest productivity rate for the most favourable reaction system with a γ alumina supported copper iodide/manganese oxide catalyst was 15 m mole PG/g cat-hour.