PRODUCTION OF ETHYLENE OXIDE IN THE PRESENCE OF SELECTIVE CATALYSTS

Abstract

Ethylene oxide is widely used to produce ethylene glycols, glycol ethers, fibers, antifreezes, ethanolamines, brake fluids, and a number of other products. World production exceeds 18 million tons per year, and continues to grow dynamically by 4-5% per year. There is no production of ethylene in our republic. Industrial production of ethylene oxide began only in the 1920s, almost 100 years after its discovery by Wurtz [1, 2]. At the first industrial plant of the Union Carbide Company (USA), a multi-stage process for producing ethylene oxide by the chlorohydrin method was used.