Improving aqueous biphasic hydroformylation of unsaturated oleochemicals using a jet-loop-reactor

Abstract

In two case studies, the reaction performance of the aqueous biphasic hydroformylation of two industrially relevant oleochemicals, namely methyl 10-undecenoate (case 1) and methyl oleate (case 2), is significantly improved by the use of a Jet-Loop Reactor concept. Based on previously reported studies, only the two green and benign co-solvents, 1-butanol and isopropanol are applied, respectively, in the absence of any additional auxiliary. Both reactions benefit highly from using this special piece of equipment, specifically designed for improving gas–liquid–liquid mixing to create large interfacial areas with no moving internals. In case 1, the loading of the co-solvent 1-butanol is successfully reduced. For the first time significant yields (>40% after 1 h) are obtained in the absence of any co-solvent, which is very beneficial, since aldehyde products and substrate form a pure product phase enabling straightforward separation. In case 2, the loading of the substrate methyl oleate is successfully increased from 6 to 30 wt% still showing satisfying productivity. At 15 wt%, the yield of the desired internal aldehydes in the jet-loop reactor is increased by a factor of five compared to a stirred tank reactor after 3 h.