Rhodium-Catalyzed Hydroformylation of Long-Chain Olefins in Aqueous Multiphase Systems in a Continuously Operated Miniplant

We investigate aqueous multiphase systems for catalytic gas/liquid reactions, namely, the rhodium-catalyzed hydroformylation of the long-chain olefin 1-dodecene. The multiphase system was formulated from 1-dodecene, water, and a nonionic surfactant, which increases the solubility between the two nonmiscible liquid phases. On the basis of these systems, we present in this paper a transfer of lab experiments (semibatch) to a successful operation of a miniplant in continuous mode. Under optimized conditions, the reaction showed turnover frequencies of similar to 200 h(-1) and high selectivity of 98:2 to the desired linear aldehyde. The miniplant was operated continuously for a total of 130 h. The control of the phase separation and catalyst recycling for product isolation for a long time period appeared to be challenging. Nevertheless, the separation was kept stable for over 24 h. The organic components in the product phase amounted to desired values between 95 and 99 wt %. The desired 99.99% of the catalyst remained in the aqueous catalyst phase.