Selective oxidation of ethanol to ethylene oxide with a dual-layer concept

Ethylene oxide is mainly produced from fossil-based ethylene. Only minor amounts of EO are based on renewable ethanol in a three-step process consisting of an ethanol dehydration step, an ethylene purification step, and an epoxidation step. We herein present a new one-step process for the selective oxidation of ethanol to ethylene oxide by a novel dual-layer concept without intermediate ethylene purification. Ethanol is dehydrated in one reactor on a first catalyst bed to ethylene which is subsequently epoxidized over a silver catalyst. The dual-layer arrangement allowed stable operation over more than 60 h and state-of-the-art conversions and selectivities were obtained.