Method for production of methyl methacrylate by oxidative esterification using a heterogeneous catalyst

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10829434-B2
Application number	US-201816634749-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 25, 2018
Priority date	Jul 28, 2017
Publication date	Nov 10, 2020
Grant date	Nov 10, 2020

Abstract

A method for preparing methyl methacrylate from methacrolein and methanol. The method comprises contacting a mixture comprising methacrolein, methanol and oxygen with a heterogeneous catalyst comprising a support and a noble metal, wherein said catalyst has an average diameter of at least 200 microns and average concentration of methacrolein is at least 15 wt %.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for preparing methyl methacrylate from methacrolein and methanol; said method comprising contacting a mixture comprising methacrolein, methanol and oxygen with a heterogeneous catalyst comprising a support and gold, wherein said catalyst has an average diameter of at least 300 microns and at least 90 wt % of the gold is in the outer 50% of catalyst volume, and wherein average concentration of methacrolein is at least 15 wt %.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the catalyst has an average diameter from 400 microns to 10 mm.

3. The method of claim 2 in which the catalyst is contained in a catalyst bed.

4. The method of claim 3 in which the catalyst bed is at a temperature from 40 to 120° C.

5. The method of claim 4 in which pH in the catalyst bed is from 4 to 10.

6. The method of claim 5 in which at least 90 wt % of the gold is in the outer 40% of catalyst volume.

7. The method of claim 1 in which the support is selected from the group consisting of γ-, δ-, or θ-alumina, silica, magnesia, titania, vanadia, ceria, lanthanum oxide and a combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 7 in which methanol and methacrolein are fed to a reactor containing the catalyst bed in a molar ratio from 1:1 to 10:1, respectively.

9. The method of claim 8 in which at least 95 wt % of the gold is in the outer 30% of catalyst volume.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the average concentration of methacrolein is at least 17 wt %.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein the support is selected γ-, δ-, or θ-alumina.

Assignees

• Rohm & Haas
• Dow Global Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Krapchetov Dmitry A
• Limbach Kirk W
• Hickman Daniel A
• Heitsch Andrew T
• Sussman Victor
• Lee Wen Sheng
• Shayib Ramzy

Classifications

• B01J8/067

  Heating or cooling the reactor (B01J8/062 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C07C67/40 Primary

  by oxidation of primary alcohols · CPC title

• B01J35/40

  characterised by dimensions, e.g. grain size (in a colloidal state B01J35/23; crystallite size B01J35/77) · CPC title

• C07C69/54

  Acrylic acid esters; Methacrylic acid esters · CPC title

• C07C67/39 Primary

  by oxidation of groups which are precursors for the acid moiety of the ester · CPC title