text: The Ruhrchemie/Rhone–Poulenc process (RCRPP) relies on a rhodium catalyst with water-soluble TPPTS as ligand (Kuntz Cornils catalyst) for the hydroformylation of propene. The tri-sulfonation of triphenylphosphane ligand provides hydrophilic properties to the organometallic complex. The catalyst complex carries nine sulfonate-groups and is highly soluble in water (about 1 kg L), but not in the emerging product phase. The water-soluble TPPTS is used in about 50-fold excess, whereby the leaching of the catalyst is effectively suppressed. Reactants are propene and syngas consisting of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in a ratio of 1.1:1. A mixture of butyraldehyde and isobutyraldehyde in the ratio 96:4 is generated with few by-products such as alcohols, esters and higher boiling fractions. The Ruhrchemie/Rhone-Poulenc-process is the first commercially available two-phase system in which the catalyst is present in the aqueous phase. 
  In the progress of the reaction an organic product phase is formed which is separated continuously by means of phase separation, wherein the aqueous catalyst phase remains in the reactor.
  The process is carried out in a stirred tank reactor where the olefin and the syngas are entained from the bottom of the reactor through the catalyst phase under intensive stirring. The resulting crude aldehyde phase is separated at the top from the aqueous phase. The aqueous catalyst-containing solution is re-heated via a heat exchanger and pumped back into the reactor. The excess olefin and syngas is separated from the aldehyde phase in a stripper and fed back to the reactor. The generated heat is used for the generation of process steam, which is used for subsequent distillation of the organic phase to separate into butyraldehyde and isobutyraldehyde. Potential catalyst poisons coming from the synthesis gas migrate into the organic phase and removed from the reaction with the aldehyde. Thus there is no accumulation of catalyst poisons, and the elaborate fine purification of the syngas can be omitted.
  A plant was built in Oberhausen in 1984, which was debottlenecked in 1988 and again in 1998 up to a production capacity of 500,000 t/a butanal. The conversion rate of propene is 98% and the selectivity to n-butanal is high. During the life time of a catalyst batch in the process less than 1 ppb rhodium is lost.