Processes and possibilities for the epoxidation of propene

Propene oxide, one of the mayor commodity chemicals used in chemical industry, is in need of a new process for its production because of the disadvantages encountered with the currently available processes. These processes, most importantly the chlorohydrin and the hydroperoxide processes, will be discussed. New processes and catalysts under development for both the direct and indirect epoxidation of propene are discussed as well as the challenges that are still limiting the applications of some of those. The most important new processes and catalysts discussed are the hydrogen peroxide combination process, the high-loaded silver catalysts, the molten salt systems, and the gold-titania catalysts systems.