Propoxylation of fatty amines: Switching from batch to flow

The ethoxylation and propoxylation of fatty amines are important industrial reactions commonly performed in de-intensified semi-batch reactors. The present study aims to intensify these reactions by transferring the process to continuous processing. Therefore, the propoxylation of octylamine, as model system, was performed in a batch reactor and in a micro tubular reactor. The micro tubular reactor operated with a single liquid phase at 15 bar pressure. The batch study found valuable kinetic and solubility information in the temperature range of 120°C-160°C. Moreover, a switch-flow method in the micro tubular reactor combined with inline FTIR gave a more detailed understanding of the reaction kinetics. In the micro tubular reactor, all PO was added in the feed according to stoichiometry, which led to a process intensification factor of 3.7 compared to fed-batch gas phase addition at maximum 2 bar.