Propylene oxide production apparatus and propylene oxide production method

A propylene oxide production apparatus that produces propylene oxide by epoxidizing propylene using a peroxide in the presence of a titanosilicate, the apparatus comprising:

• at least three reactors in which the titanosilicate is stored and to which propylene and the peroxide are supplied as reaction raw materials;
• a supply line that supplies the reaction raw materials, which have not yet supplied to each reactor, to each reactor;
• a discharge line that is connected to each reactor and that discharges a reaction mixture comprising propylene oxide from each reactor;
• a switching mechanism that is capable of switching a state of each reactor between an operating state where the reaction raw materials are supplied and an epoxidation reaction is performed and a non-operating state where the supply of the reaction raw materials is shut off, that is capable of changing a reactor in the non-operating state one by one, and that performs switching in such a way that only reactors in the operating state are connected fluidically in series or in parallel, thereby enabling supplying the reaction raw materials to the reactors in the operating state;
• and
• a sampling mechanism that samples part of the reaction mixture from each discharge line that is connected to each reactor, wherein
• the propylene oxide production apparatus is configured to supply the reaction raw materials in order of propylene and subsequently the peroxide, and have a ratio of a total flow volume (β) of propylene supplied until the peroxide is supplied in the reactor switched from the non-operating state to the operating state to a volume (α) of the titanosilicate stored in the reactor switched from the non-operating state to the operating state, (β/α), being 5 to 6000.