Oxyethylation and oxypropylation of low molecular alcohols

The effect of catalyst (potassium hydroxide, triethylamine, and sulfuric ac id) on oxyethylation and oxypropylation of methanol, ethanol, and butanol i s studied. Exemplary optimization of the process is performed at selectivit y equal to 90% of the monoglycol alkyl ether fraction. It is shown that the most advantageous for oxyalkylation of methanol are the alkaline catalysts , especially triethylamine. The same relationship was observed for oxypropy lation of ethanol and butanol. However, in oxyethylation of ethanol and but anol much better results are obtained using sulfuric acid as the catalyst.