| 摘要 |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To advantageously produce ethylene glycol which is useful as a raw material for polymers, for example, polyesters or polyurethanes and as an antifreezing fluid for engines through a simple process with lowered energy consumption. SOLUTION: The objective ethylene glycol is produced by allowing an absorbing solution mainly comprising ethylene carbonate and ethylene glycol (water content is 1-30wt.%) to absorb ethylene oxide in a gas mixture of ethylene oxidation at 10-80 deg.C and the ethylene oxide in the absorption solution is allowed to react with 0.1-12-fold molar amount of carbon dioxide. Then, a part of the ethylene carbonate formed in the absorption solution is hydrolyzed in the presence of a hydrolytic catalyst, while the rest is circulated as an absorption solution, further, the hydrolyzate is distilled whereby ethylene glycol is produced. During these processes, the concentration of ethylene oxide in the ethylene oxidation reaction gas is preferably kept at 0.5-5mol%. |
