Shell Oil Comapny

Stephen Blake Mullin

Joseph Broun Powell

Paul Richard Weider

Juan Pedro Arhancet

David Cleve Eubanks

Lynn Henry Slaugh

Jiang-Jen Lin

Robert Lawrence Blackbourn

Thomas C Forschner

Thomas Carl Semple

Howard L Fong

Kevin Dale Allen

Terry Blane Thomason

David William Johnson

Cobalt or rhodium carbonyl compounds are removed from an aqueous solution of 3-hydroxypropanal by a process comprising the steps of:

Purification of 3-hydroxy-propanal

1,3-propanediol is prepared in a process which involves hydroformylating ethylene oxide:

Cobalt-catalyzed process for preparing 1,3-propanidiol

1,3-propanediol is prepared in a process in which ethylene oxide is reacted with carbon monoxide and hydrogen in an essentially non-water-miscible solvent in the presence of an effective amount of a non-phosphine-ligated cobalt catalyst and an effective amount of a catalyst promoter under reaction conditions effective to produce an intermediate product mixture comprising less than about 15 wt % 3-hydroxypropanal. The 3-hydroxypropanal is extracted in water from the product mixture in more concentrated form, with the majority of the cobalt catalyst remaining in the solvent phase for recycle to the hydroformylation reaction. At least a portion of any residual catalyst in the water phase following extraction is removed by re-extraction with non-water-miscible solvent and recycled to hydroformylation. The 3-hydroxypropanal is then hydrogenated in aqueous solution to the desired 1,3-propanediol.

Process for preparing 1,3-propanediol

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Katy, TX, United States of America

Stephen Blake Mullin