A Microwave Beam Monitoring System for Direct Measurement of Ultra Short Electron Bunches

65654 In hydroformylation, an alkene reacts with synthesis gas to form an aldehyde (current worldwide production of aldehydes exceeds 7 million tons/year). Homogeneous rhodium catalysts are used in the production of lower aldehydes because they are the most active and selective catalysts for this reaction. Distillation is used to separate the catalyst from the lower aldehydes. However, for the higher aldehydes, their higher boiling points make distillation impossible; therefore, the rhodium catalysts cannot be separated and inefficient cobalt catalysts must be used. To eliminate the need to separate the rhodium catalyst by distallation, this project will develop solvent mixtures to separate the rhodium catalysts from the aldehyde product. The thermomorphic solution will allow for easy catalyst recycle, resulting in dramatic energy and cost reductions for higher aldehyde production. In Phase I, the thermomorphic solvent mixtures were tested, resulting in high selectivity and low catalyst losses. An economic analysis, comparing the new rhodium-based process to the current cobalt-based system showed more than 30% saving in feedstock and energy costs. Phase II will optimize conditions for the thermomorphic catalyst system, and a continuous bench scale reactor will be designed, built, and tested for long-term performance. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Biphasic hydroformylation of higher olefins with redox-switchable surfactants would lead to an environmentally clean and much less costly replacement of the current cobalt catalyst system.