“The “pentyl anthraquinone method for the clean production of hydrogen peroxide” technology fills a gap in China

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“The “Pentyl anthraquinone method for the clean production of hydrogen peroxide” technology fills a gap in China’s capabilities in this field. Author/Source: Sinochem News Network; Date: April 1, 2020; Clicks: 210. Recently, the research team led by Professor Zhou Mingdong from Liaoning University of Petroleum and Chemical Technology, in collaboration with the Dalian Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology under Sinopec, successfully developed this complete set of technologies for the clean production of hydrogen peroxide using the pentyl anthraquinone method. This development fills the gap in China’s use of pentyl anthraquinone technology, and the overall performance of these new technologies is at an internationally advanced level. The application of this technology can increase the production capacity of hydrogen peroxide facilities by over 30%, effectively reducing the production pressures on such enterprises and enhancing their logistical capabilities to combat the pandemic. Disinfectants are important materials for preventing and controlling epidemics, but since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a severe shortage in their production capacity. In particular, disinfection products such as 84 disinfectant, which are based on sodium hypochlorite, are harmful to the human body and highly corrosive, posing certain limitations. Hydrogen peroxide has a strong disinfecting power; it breaks down into water, making it one of the safest green disinfectants. At present, the ethyl anthraquinone process is widely used in the hydrogen peroxide production industry in our country, but it has issues such as low hydrogen efficiency, high consumption of anthraquinone, and low production capacity per unit facility. Foreign companies have successively developed the pentyl anthraquinone process for hydrogen peroxide production, which can significantly increase hydrogen peroxide production capacity; however, China still does not possess mature pentyl anthraquinone production technology. Industry experts say that the \"phthalic anhydride acylation-dehydration method\" currently used abroad for the production of pentyl anthraquinone poses serious environmental problems. Professor Zhou Mingdong led a research team in independent development. After nearly a decade of technical efforts, they succeeded in breaking through the new production process for pentyl anthraquinone using the \"anthracene alkylation-oxidation method\". They were able to apply the green catalysts developed in the laboratory to this new technology for the clean synthesis of pentyl anthraquinone, thus creating a complete set of technologies for the clean production of hydrogen peroxide via the pentyl anthraquinone method – solutions that completely addressed the environmental issues associated with traditional processes.