GB751508A - Process for the production of hydrogen peroxide and the hydrogen peroxide so produced - Google Patents

Abstract

In the production of hydrogen peroxide by the oxidation with oxygen of a secondary alcohol according to the process of Specification 708,339, there is added to the alcohol undergoing oxidation (a) a heavy metal salt soluble therein in an amount such that the total concentration of heavy metal in the alcohol does not exceed 0.001 per cent of the alcohol and (b) a sequestrative hydrogen peroxide stabilizer in an amount at least equivalent to the total amount of heavy metal present. The heavy metal may be a metal of groups V-VIII of the Periodic Table e.g. cobalt, iron, chromium, manganese, nickel or vanadium and may be in the form of its chloride, sulphate, nitrate, carbonate, acetate, propionate, butyrate, laurate naphthenate, benzoate, acetylacetonate, isovalerylacetonate or butyrylacetonate. The stabilizer may be an alkali metal salt of an oxy acid of tin, antimony, silicon or aluminium, e.g. sodium stannate, aluminate, silicate, or meta-stannate, or a hydrous oxide thereof, e.g. aquo-stannic acid (H2Sn(OH)6) alpha-meta-stannic acid, hydrous antimony oxide, freshly precipitated alumina, or silica acid hydrosol, or an oxyacid of phosphorus e.g. ortho phosphoric acid or pyrophosphoric acid, or a salt thereof, e.g. sodium pyrophosphate. trisodium orthophosphate, disodium monohydrogen orthophosphate, sodium dihydrogen orthophosphate, potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate or sodium hexametaphosphate. Up to 0.05 per cent or more of stabilizer based on the reaction mixture, preferably about 0.01 per cent, may be employed. Specification 731,238 is also referred to.