Recent Advances in Greener and Energy Efficient Alkene Epoxidation Processes

Abstract

The chemical industry is considered to be one of the largest consumers of energy in the manufacturing sector. As the cost of energy is rising rapidly, coupled with the increasingly stringent standards for the release of harmful chemicals and gases into the environment, more attention is now focused on developing energy efficient chemical processes that could significantly reduce both operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Alkene epoxidation is an important chemical process as the resultant epoxides are highly reactive compounds that are used as platform chemicals for the production of commercially important products for flavours, fragrances, paints and pharmaceuticals. A number of epoxidation methods have been developed over the past decade with the ultimate aim of minimising waste generation and energy consumption. In this review paper, some of the recent advances in epoxides synthesis using energy efficient processes are discussed. The epoxidation methods may provide sustainability in terms of environmental impact and energy consumption.

Greener and Efficient Epoxidation of 1,5-Hexadiene with tert-Butyl Hydroperoxide (TBHP) as an Oxidising Reagent in the Presence of Polybenzimidazole Supported Mo(VI) Catalyst

“…By fitting the experimental results, the generic quadratic equation shown in Equation ( 1) was used to obtain a model of polynomial regression. The polynomial equation is shown in Equation (2).…”

“…Alkene epoxidation has been established as an important process for chemical synthesis as the resultant epoxide acts as a raw material or intermediate that can be transformed into many useful substances such as plasticizers, perfumes, and epoxy resins [1]. The reaction occurs by direct oxidation of two adjacent carbon atoms from alkene in the presence of oxidising reagents [2,3]. The versatile nature of epoxides is due to the high reactivity of the three-membered ring in their structure [4].…”

A Comprehensive Review of Fine Chemical Production Using Metal-Modified and Acidic Microporous and Mesoporous Catalytic Materials

“…The importance of greener epoxidation processes has been explored in Ref. [261], with the main benefits of developing greener methods including reduced waste, further potential savings in regard to energy and material costs, as well as exhibiting progressive movements towards more environmentally conscious processes and tighter emissions regulations.…”

Production of fine chemicals using microporous and mesoporous heterogeneous catalysts

“…This has highlighted not only the importance of optimising a process in terms of cost savings and efficiency but also the benefits it supplies in terms of continuous epoxidation experiments as an elaboration from those carried out in batch reactors. The importance of greener epoxidation processes has been explored in [207], with the main benefits of developing greener methods including reduced waste, further potential savings on energy and material costs, as well as exhibiting progressive movements towards more environmentally conscious processes and tighter emissions regulations.…”