S. Matar, L. F. Hatch
2001
Citations
0
Influential Citations
3
Citations
Journal
Journal name not available for this finding
Abstract
Publisher Summary Propylene, ”the crown prince of petrochemicals,” is second to ethylene as the largest-volume hydrocarbon intermediate for the production of chemicals. As an olefin, propylene is a reactive compound that can react with many common reagents used with ethylene such as water, chlorine, and oxygen. Direct oxidation of propylene using oxygen does not produce propylene oxide as in the case of ethylene. Instead, an unsaturated aldehyde, acrolein, is obtained. This could be attributed to the ease of oxidation of allylic hydrogens in propylene. Similar to the oxidation reaction, the direct catalyzed chlorination of propylene produces allyl chloride through substitution of allylic hydrogens by chlorine. Substitution of vinyl hydrogens in ethylene by chlorine, however, does not occur under normal conditions. Many important chemicals are produced from propylene. It is used to produce polypropylene polymers and copolymers (about 46%). Other large volume uses are acrylonitrile for synthetic fibers (Ca 13%), propylene oxide (Ca 10%), cumene (Ca 8%) and oxo alcohols (Ca 7%). The figure shows the important chemicals based on propylene. The following chapter discusses the chemistry of the production of these chemicals.