Advanced millireactor technology for the kinetic investigation of very rapid reactions: Dehydrochlorination of 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol to epichlorohydrin

Epichlorohydrin is an important chemical intermediate, which can be obtained by valorisation of glycerol, an inexpensive raw material obtained as a stoichiometric co-product from biodiesel production. A continuous milliscale tubular reactor was developed to conduct the synthesis of epichlorohydrin and to measure the very rapid reaction kinetics. 1,3-dichloro-2-propanol (αγ-DCP) was dehydrochlorinated with sodium hydroxide at 30–70 °C. The residence times in the millireactor system were less than 25 s. The kinetic data were interpreted with a plug flow model and a rate equation based on a plausible reaction mechanism. The model – the rate equation and the plug flow concept – gave a perfect description of the experimental data.