Synthesis of Propylene Carbonate from Urea and 1,2-Propylene Glycol in a Monolithic Stirrer Reactor

A monolithic stirrer reactor, in which the cordierite monolith-supported metal oxide and mixed-metal oxide catalysts are used as stirrer blades, is applied for the alcoholysis of urea with 1,2-propylene glycol to synthesize propylene carbonate. It is shown that the mixed-metal oxides give much higher urea alcoholysis performances than the metal oxides, arising from the existence of a strong synergetic effect in the mixed-metal oxides. The zinc chromium mixed oxide not only shows an excellent catalytic performance but also has extremely strong adhesion strength on the monolithic substrate. For the monolith supported zinc chromium mixed oxide catalyst, the monolithic stirrer reactor performs very well, and the highest yield of propylene carbonate reaches 97.8%. The performance is comparable to that of a conventional mechanically agitated slurry reactor, revealing the monolithic stirrer reactor can be an attractive alternative to the slurry reactor for heterogeneously catalyzed liquid liquid reactions.