The “Pilot-scale Study of the New Synthetic Technology of Trioxane” project, jointly undertaken by China Blue Chemical Limited and Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics (LICP), Chinese Academy of Sciences, was checked and accepted by China National Offshore Oil Corporation, in Haikou, Hainan province on November 19, 2009.According to the specialists, the project developed the new synthetic technology of trioxane with ionic liquids as the catalysts, the whole process of the pilot-scale test was trialed, industrialized engineering design software package was submitted. Through these, the new synthetic technology of trioxane with independent intellectual property rights of China was formed. And the project successfully passed the acceptance check.
The successful pilot-scale test of the new technology means that the heavily polluted sulfuric acid technology will be replaced by the clean technology with independent intellectual property rights. And, the quality of trioxane will be improved, which will be beneficial to the production of polyoxymethylene. The successful practice of the technology will break the overseas monopolization of the synthesis of polyoxymethylene materials, greatly reduce the cost of synthesizing trioxane and polyoxymethylene, speed up the large scale production of trioxane. It can be predicted that the large scale production of low-cost and high-performance trioxane will enhance the great development of POM resin and modified POM materials which use trioxane as the raw materials, as well as a clean diesel component, polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers(DMM3-8). All of these will provide a breakthrough point for the coal-based methanol industry and promote the development of C1 chemical engineering using methanol as the raw materials, which have a significant impact on synthesis technology of bulk chemicals through non-oil route.
Trioxane is the important platform chemical of the development of methanol downstream products. It plays a vey important role in the synthesis of clean fuels, high-property materials and bulk chemicals. The monopolization of the synthetic technology of trioxane by the developed countries in the west has made it a bottleneck in high-tech development of China's energy and materials. The new efficient catalytic synthesis process for trioxane is the key technology in development of polyoxymethylene and downstream products of methanol.With the deep accumulation in the research areas of the functionalized ionic liquids synthesis, as well as their catalytic properties, LICP became the first to carry out the research on the synthesis of trioxane catalyzed by ionic liquids in 2005 in China.It has already applied a series of national and international patents concerning the research and obtained two American invention patents. In June, 2006, LICP signed the contract with the China Blue Chemical Limited to jointly develop the pilot-scale technology of troxiane.In January, 2009, the pilot experimental device was started up and successfully fed with qualified trioxane produced, in China Blue Chemical Limited in Dongfang, Hainan province. The new synthetic technology of troxiane is the major part of the “Development of the Key Technologies in the Preparation of Bulk Chemicals Through Non-oil Routes”-key project in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program in the Eleventh Five-year Plan Period. And it has also won support from “New technology for the Clean Synthesis of Troxiane”-project supported by Funds of the CAS for Key Topics in Innovation Engineering, and “Troxiane and Its Downstream Products”-major innovative project of the LICP. “New technology for the Clean Catalytic Synthesis of Troxiane” was checked and accepted by the Gansu Provincial S&T Department in 2008.
