Anthraquinone process
The anthraquinone process, also called the Riedl–Pfleiderer process, is a process for the production of hydrogen peroxide, which was developed by IG Farben in the 1940s.[1] The industrial production of hydrogen peroxide is based on the reduction of oxygen, as in the direct synthesis from the elements. Instead of hydrogen itself, however, a 2-alkyl-anthrahydroquinone, which is generated before from the corresponding 2-alkyl-anthraquinone by catalytic hydrogenation with palladium is used. Oxygen and the organic phase react under formation of the anthraquinone and hydrogen peroxide. Among other alkyl groups (R) ethyl- and tert-butyl- are used, e.g., 2-ethylanthraquinone.[2][3]
The hydrogen peroxide is then extracted with water and in a second step separated by fractional distillation from the water. The hydrogen peroxide accumulates as sump product. The anthraquinone acts as a catalyst, the overall reaction equation is therefore:
- H2 + O2 → H2O2
If ozone is used instead of oxygen, dihydrogen trioxide can be produced by this method.[4]
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Römpp CD 2006, Georg Thieme Verlag 2006
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]- The manufacture of hydrogen peroxide Archived 2019-02-03 at the Wayback Machine
