| 主权项 |
1. A process for producing polyphenylene ether helping to improve safety and yield, comprising the steps of
a) preparing an oxidation-polymerization reactor containing therein a rotary-sealed mixer having gas-introducing, gas-exhausting and stirring functions as well as sealed with magnetic rotary feedthroughs to prevent from generation of static electricity; b) forming a PPE reactant in the oxidation-polymerization reactor by mixing 2,6-dimethylphenol (2,6-DMP), bisphenol-modified 2,6-DMP or alkenyl phenol-modified 2,6-DMP with an organic solvent selected from the group consisting of toluene, methanol, ethanol, propyl alcohol and butanol solvent; wherein the used organic solvent is set at a gaseous concentration below the minimums of explosion thereof; c) adding a copper-amine complex-based catalyst into the PPE reactant by weight ratio of 2,6-DMP to copper ions of the catalyst ranging from 500 to 5,000, wherein the copper-amine complex-based catalyst is formed from a C1-C6 alcohol, a surfactant and a copper-amine complex by weight ratio of C1-C6 alcohol to copper ions ranging from 5 to 1,000 and surfactant to copper ions ranging from 1 to 200 respectively; and the C1-C6 alcohol is derived from methanol, ethanol, propyl alcohol, butanol, amyl alcohol, hexyl alcohol, or a combination thereof; d) introducing pure oxygen gas or air at a gaseous concentration below the limiting oxygen concentration (LOC) of the used organic solvent of step b), or optionally introducing additional nitrogen gas as an inert gas; e) activating the rotary-sealed mixer of step a) to distribute oxygen gas evenly over the PPE reactant; f) making the PPE reactant get an oxidation polymerization to obtain PPE crude products under pressure ranging from 2 to 60 kg/cm2 and temperature ranging from −10° C. to 80° C. for from 0.5 to 16 hours; and g) processing the PPE crude product via extracting out copper ions and removing the solvent to obtain PPE products. |
