Process for preparing an 1,2-alkylene carbonate

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for preparing an 1,2-alkylene carbonate comprising (i) contacting carbon dioxide, an 1,2-alkylene oxide and a carbonation catalyst in a reactor to produce a crude reactor effluent containing carbon dioxide, light components, 1,2-alkylene carbonate and catalyst; (ii) separating carbon dioxide and light components from the crude reactor effluent to form a bottoms stream containing 1,2-alkylene carbonate and catalyst; (iii) distilling the bottoms stream formed in step (ii) to form a first distillation overhead stream containing 1,2-alkylene carbonate and a first distillation bottoms stream containing catalyst, and recycling at least part of the first distillation bottoms stream to the reactor; and (iv) distilling the first distillation overhead stream to form a second distillation overhead stream and a second distillation bottoms stream containing 1,2-alkylene carbonate, and recycling at least part of the second distillation overhead stream to the reactor.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.