Oxirane compounds such as ethylene oxide, propylene oxide, and their higher homologs are valuable articles of commerce. One of the most attractive processes for synthesis of those oxirane compounds is described by Kollar in U.S. Pat. No. 3,351,635. According to Kollar, the oxirane compound (e.g., propylene oxide) may be prepared by epoxidation of an olefinically unsaturated compound (e.g., propylene) by use of an organic hydroperoxide and a suitable catalyst such as molybdenum.
During the epoxidation reaction the hydroperoxide is converted almost quantitatively to the corresponding alcohol. That alcohol may be recovered as a coproduct with the oxirane compound. However, it is the oxirane which is of primary concern.
Kollar teaches that oxirane compounds may be prepared from a wide variety of olefins. Lower olefins having three or four carbon atoms in an aliphatic chain are advantageously epoxidized by the process. The class of olefins commonly termed alpha olefins or primary olefins are epoxidized in a particularly efficient manner by the process. It is known to those in the art that primary olefins, e.g., propylene, butene-1, decene-1 hexadecene-1 etc., are much more difficultly epoxidized than other forms of olefins, excluding only ethylene. Other forms of olefins which are much more easily epoxidized are substituted olefins, alkenes with internal unsaturation, cycloalkenes and the like. Kollar teaches that notwithstanding the relative difficulty in epoxidizing primary olefins, epoxidation proceeds more efficiently when molybdenum, titanium or tungsten catalysts are used. Molybdenum is of special interest. Kollar teaches that activity of those metals for epoxidation of the primary olefins is surprisingly high and can lead to high selectivity of propylene to propylene oxide. These high selectivities are obtained at high conversions of hydroperoxide (50% or higher) which conversion levels are important for commercial utilization of the technology.
Kollar's epoxidation reaction proceeds under pressure in the liquid state and, accordingly, a liquid solution of the metal catalyst is preferred. Preparation of a suitable catalyst is taught by Sheng et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,434,975. According to Sheng, the reaction-medium soluble epoxidation catalyst may be prepared by reacting molybdenum metal with an organic hydroperoxide, per acid or hydrogen peroxide in the presence of a saturated alcohol having one to four carbon atoms.
When propylene is epoxidized with tertiary-butyl hydroperoxide according to the Kollar process using the Sheng catalyst, a product mixture containing unreacted propylene, propylene oxide, tertiary-butyl alcohol and molybdenum catalyst is obtained. Distillation of that product mixture provides substantially pure propylene oxide and tertiary-butyl alcohol. The residue of distillation (hereafter "TBA bottoms") contains spent molybdenum catalyst as well as high boiling organic residues.
Removal and recovery of the molybdenum values from the distillation residue are important from ecological and economical standpoints. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,303 Khuri et al disclose two embodiments of a process for recovering molybdenum values from spent epoxidation catalysts. The Khori process first embodiment involves recovery of molybdenum directly from the spent catalyst mixture by a liquid-to-liquid extraction utilizing an aqueous extractant consisting essentially of water which is intermittently admixed with the residue to be treated to effect an extraction and transfer of a portion of the molybdenum constituent from the organic phase to the aqueous phase. Untreated spent catalyst solutions usually contain molybdenum in concentrations of from about 0.1% to about 1.0% by weight and Khori discloses those solutions are highly satisfactory for treatment in the liquid-to-liquid extraction process in which the extractant consists essentially of water to effect molybdenum separation. Molybdenum separated with the aqueous extract is recovered as molybdenum trioxide by evaporation of water followed by calcination of the solid obtained by extract evaporation.
The second embodiment of the Khuri process relates to extracting molybdenum from distillation residues obtained from distillation of spent catalyst solution (TBA bottoms) but the extraction is performed with acids or bases to convert the molybdenum into a recoverable molybdenum compound of the acid or base.
British Patent Specification No. 1,317,480 also teaches recovery of molybdenum values from spent epoxidation catalysts. As in Khuri, the British recovery process involves extracting the spent catalyst solution with water alone or with aqueous ammonia. The British extraction process results in a transfer of at least 95% of the available molybdenum values to the aqueous extract. Those molybdenum values are recovered from the aqueous phase by precipitation as a phosphomolybdate or by distillative stripping of the volatile organic material and water from the extract.
The spent catalyst solution may also be subjected to exhaustive evaporation or distillation to produce a residue with a higher molybdenum content as taught by Levine et al in U.S. Pat. No. 3,819,663. The Levine process starts with a spent catalyst solution such as TBA bottoms and subjects that solution to a wiped film evaporation at 375.degree. to 450.degree. F. until 60 to 80% by weight of the solution is evaporated overhead. The residue of that evaporation is taught to be useful as a catalyst in further epoxidation processes.
Khcheyan et al in U.S.S.R. Author's Certificate No. 419,238 discloses that molybdenum values may be recovered from an olefin epoxidation reaction by extracting the reaction product with an aqueous solution of an alkaline agent and an organic extractant. The examples disclosed by Khcheyan relate to direct treatment of the epoxidation reaction product from which only the propylene oxide product appears to have been removed. It has been found that when both propylene oxide and tertiary-butyl alcohol are distilled from the reaction product, the distillation residue cannot be successfully treated according to the Khcheyan method to recover molybdenum values.