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[R N Kapur]

I am a chemical engineering graduate of 1960s. Currently I am working as a free lance consultant; having worked for almost 30 years in consultancy firm in project management and project controls.

Currently I am working on a Technoeconomic Feasibility Report for production of Epichlorohydrin (ECH) from propylene and chlorine. The client is a caustic soda manufacturer and is looking for value-added product for chlorine.

From the process details available in the technology books, as also in some of the patents, I notice that though it does mention that the dicholrohydrin can be coneverted to ECH by using an alkali; but in all the examples that have been cited, I find that invariably milk of lime i.e. Ca(OH)2 is being mentioned.

My question is - can NaOH be used in this step? Reason I am seeking this information is that by using milk of lime calcium chloride gets generated that has to be disposed off; whereas if it is possible to use NaOH then NaCl will be generated that can be fed back to the Caustic Soda plant.

I also notice that ECH gets hydrolysed by 10% solution of NaOH to Glycerine. Is that the reason for not using NaOH in the ECH production step?
Thanks in advance

R N Kapur