Double metal cyanide catalyst for the production of polyether polyols and a process thereof

Abstract

The present invention discloses a Double Metal Cyanide (DMC) catalyst(s) useful for the production of polyether polyols (PEPO) and a less energy intensive room temperature method for the synthesis thereof. The catalyst(s) comprises of a DMC complex, an organic complexing agent, i.e., ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and other co-complexing organic agents, e.g., t-BuOH, PEPO of composition ranging from about 1 to 10 wt %, wherein the average molecular weight of PEPO used ranged from 200 to 1000. A method of preparing a series of DMC catalyst(s) at room temperature with varying compositional ratios of the complexing and co-complexing agents targeting a wide range of PEPO of varying kinematic viscosity range is also disclosed. These DMC catalyst(s) are amorphous, highly active, and easily separable from product PEPO with recyclability/recoverability, making the product PEPO better industrially applicable and DMC catalyst more cost-effective.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.