Kinetics of the Hydration of Ethylene Oxide in the Presence of Heterogeneous Catalyst

Abstract

Kinetic data on the hydration of ethylene oxide was obtained from both uncatalyzed and heterogeneously catalyzed reactions using a pressurized batch reactor. Amberjet 4200/HCO(3)(-) was used as the heterogeneous catalyst, which was found to be the most effective among the four types of cross-linked styrene-divinylbenzene anion-exchange resins tested. The reactions were proved to follow a series-parallel irreversible homogeneous mechanism under both catalyzed and uncatalyzed conditions. Thus the corresponding rate expression can be given as -r(EtO) = k(1)C(W)C(EtO) + k(2)C(MEG)C(EtO) + k(3)C(DEG)C(EtO). The rate constants were determined by applying the method of averages at different temperatures. The temperature dependency of the rate constants was found to be k(1)/[L/(mol.min)] = exp(13.62 - 8220/T), k(2)/[L/(mol.min)] = exp(15.57 - 8700/T), and k(3)/[L/(mol.min)] = exp(16.06 - 8900/T) for the uncatalyzcd reactions and k(1)[L/(mol.min)] = exp(19.60 - 9580/T), k(2)/[L/ (mol.min)] = exp(20.19 - 10171/T), and k(3)/[L/(mol.min)] = exp(19.06 - 9743/T) in the presence of catalyst of 0.15 mol of HCO(3)(-)/L in equivalent, where T is the absolute temperature in kelvin.