Intrinsically safe oxidation process

A process for producing hydrogen peroxide, the process comprising:

• a) dissolving hydrogen and oxygen in a reaction solvent selected from the group consisting of fluorocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons, hydrochlorofluorocarbons, and mixtures thereof;
• b) reacting the dissolved hydrogen and oxygen in a reaction zone under effective oxidation conditions and in the presence of a solid oxidation catalyst to yield hydrogen peroxide, wherein effective oxidation conditions include a temperature from about 0° C. to about 90° C., an absolute pressure from about 1 to about 200 atmospheres, a gas hourly space velocity from about 50 to about 50,000 hr−1, and mechanical agitation;
• c) extracting the hydrogen peroxide into a product solvent in which the oxidation product is preferentially soluble;
• d) separating the hydrogen peroxide and residual amounts of the reaction solvent in the product solvent from the product solvent to yield a regenerated product solvent, a purified hydrogen peroxide, and a recovered reaction solvent;
• and,
• e) recycling the recovered reaction solvent to the reaction zone.