Epoxidation process

Abstract

A method for the oxidation of ethylene to form ethylene oxide which comprises: providing an aqueous stream containing ethylene glycol and impurities; introducing the aqueous stream in a first ion exchange treatment bed to reduce the content of these impurities; determining whether an outlet of the first ion exchange treatment bed has a conductivity greater than about 5 μS/cm; upon determining that the outlet of the first ion exchange treatment bed has a conductivity greater than about 5 μS/cm, introducing the outlet of the first ion exchange treatment bed into a second ion exchange treatment bed; and upon determining that the outlet of the first ion exchange treatment bed has a conductivity greater than about 60 μS/cm, redirecting the introduction of the aqueous stream to the second ion exchange treatment bed and regenerating the first ion exchange bed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.