Process for the preparation of

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE PREPARATION OF ETHYLENE OXIDE BY THE PARTIAL OXIDATION OF ETHYLENE WHICH COMPRISES PASSING A GASEOUS REACTION MIXTURE CONTAINING 0.5 TO 10% BY VOLUME OF ETHYLENE AND 3 TO 20% OXYGEN TOGETHER WITH INERTS ON CONTACT WITH A SILVER CONTAINING CATALYST ARRANGED IN AN ELONGATED REACTION ZONE AT A TEMPERATURE IN THE RANGE OF 150 TO 400* C., SAID CATALYST COMPRISING ESSENTIALLY AN INTIMATE MIXTURE OF 3 TO 30% BY WEIGHT FINELY DIVIDED SILVER AND 1 TO 25% OF THE WEIGHT OF THE SILVER OF AN ALKALINE EARTH CARBOXYLATE (THE LATTER BEING IN MILDLY ALKALINE CONDITION) COATED UPON THE PREVIOUSLY PREPARED ROUGH OUTER SURFACE OF SUBSTANTIALLY DENSE, IRREGULAR PARTICLES OF AN INERT, INORGANIC COMPOUND SUPPORT MATERIAL, SAID ZONE BEING TUBLAR AND OF ABOUT 0.5 TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER, SAID CATALYST PARTICLES BEING OF AN AVERAGE DIAMETER OF AT LEAST ABOUT 0.2 INCH AND NOT GREATER THAN 50% OF THE DIAMETER OF THE REACTION ZONE, SAID REACTION ZONE BEING OF A LENGTH IN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 10 TO 25 FEET, THE GASEOUS MIXTURE BEING PASSED THEREIN AT A PRESSURE IN THE RANGE OF 15 TO 500 P. S. I. G., AT A GASEOUS FLOW RATE IN THE RANGE OF 5 TO 60 FEET PER SECOND, THE RESIDENCE TIME OF SAID MIXTURE IN SAID ZONE BEING IN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 0.1 TO 6 SECONDS, AND THE PRESSURE DROP FROM END TO END OF SAID REACTION ZONE BEING IN THE RANGE OF 6 TO 50 P. S. I. G., AND RECOVERING ETHYLENE OXIDE FROM THE RESULTING REACTION MIXTURE.