Will the production of propylene oxide via the chlorohydrin method be phased out?
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I heard that the chlorohydrin method of producing one ton of propylene oxide results in the contamination of 40 tons of clean water, and that chloride ions cannot be treated at present and will eventually have to be eliminated. Is it really that serious? Currently, in the Shandong region, propylene oxide is mainly produced using the chlorohydrin method; this process accounts for more than half of the total production capacity. If it were to be phased out all at once, wouldn’t the price of propylene oxide soar? I would like to ask the experts: **Are there any mandatory policies in this regard?** Thank you!
Are there any solutions for this issue, or technologies that can reduce the relevant indicators? After all, there are still many chlorination processes in use across the country; let’s exchange ideas on this
Just change the process; there’s not only one way to synthesize Po. I heard it’s synthesized using microchannel reactors, but I couldn’t find any information on that.
Elimination is inevitable; the key lies in the progress of technology development for co-oxidation methods. Once the Chinese master this technology, elimination could occur right away as well.
Under the current **policy, the chlorohydrin process will be completely phased out by 2022**,
It is inevitable that new processes gradually replace older ones. The chlorohydrin method has been in use for many years, but the saponification process generates large amounts of calcium chloride, posing significant operational and environmental challenges for subsequent waste treatment. Adopting the new approach can reduce the strain on operations and the environment.
This post was last edited by hhm122 on 2019-1-9 at 09:09. The calcium oxide raw material can be replaced with caustic soda, which yields sodium chloride; electrolyzing sodium chloride produces chlorine gas and caustic soda, thus enabling the recycling of chlorine and addressing environmental issues. It will only increase costs. Selling the hydrogen can help offset some of the costs.
What policy? I saw in the draft of the **NDRC’s Industrial Policy Guidance Catalogue** from April 2019 that the chlorohydrin method was classified as a sector subject to restrictions, but there was no mention of its elimination
It seems that in China, technological updates can only be achieved through policy coercion; otherwise, new technologies are hard to be adopted. The general mindset is one of preferring stability. For example, with benzoyl chloride, iron trichloride catalysts are currently used, which generates a large amount of hazardous waste containing chlorine that is difficult to dispose of. Yet, new processes that offer high yields, low costs, and no hazardous waste are ignored by everyone. There are many things that are hard to understand.