화학공학소재연구정보센터
Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.59, No.1, 88-98, 2020
Enhanced Hydroformylation in a Continuous Flow Microreactor System
A microreactor system consisting of a honeycomb microreactor and microtubing was proposed to enhance the Rh-biphephos catalyzed hydroformylation of 1-hexene. The effects of various reaction parameters were investigated. The isomerization, which turned the terminal olefins into isoolefins, occurred first in the beginning of the reaction. The increasing residence time, gas-to-liquid ratio, pressure, temperature, and biphephos/Rh ratio favored the catalytic cycle of hydroformylation, resulting in the increasing formation of aldehydes. A satisfactory yield (>90%) of aldehydes (heptanal, 2-methylhexanal) with a very high ratio between linear and branched aldehydes (L/B ratio) could be obtained in the present microreactor system under optimized conditions. Compared with the batch reactor, the used microreactor system shortened the reaction time from 3 h of the batch reactor to 30 min for a comparable aldehyde yield with higher regioselectivity to linear aldehyde. This promoting effect was attributed to the enhanced gas-liquid mass transfer in a continuous flow microreactor, which could be applied in other gas-liquid multiphase reactions.