Kinetic study of highly efficient CO2 fixation into propylene carbonate using a continuous-flow reactor

Considered as an important C1 source on earth, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) utilization and fixation has aroused great attention. Synthesis of cyclic carbonate are one of the most widely industrialized routes. Ionic liquids have been studied for highly efficient cyclic carbonate production due to their distinguished characteristics. In this work, highly efficient synthesis of propylene carbonate catalyzed by [bmim]Br was achieved via a continuous-flow microreaction system. Based on that, influence factors and kinetics parameters for propylene carbonate synthesis were obtained. And the flow patterns were investigated via transparent tube, which were proved to be slug flow. The activation energy for [bmim]Br in this microreaction system was 57.4 kJ/mol with the temperature range from 110 to 140 ℃, and the reaction was found to follow first-order on PO and CO 2 concentrations, and first-order on [bmim]Br concentration. Verification of the kinetic models was also studied and proved a less than 12 % error range.