Methoxylation of dihydromyrcene in an intensified fixed bed reactor

Abstract

In this work we systematically investigated scale-up of methoxylation of dihydromyrcene (DHM) to produce dihydromyrcenyl methyl ether (DME) using cation exchange resin catalysts. Optimization of the reaction conditions for the methoxylation of DHM was initially carried out in a 500mL stirred tank reactor (STR). A subsequent scale-up to carry out the reaction in a 5L STR under the same reaction conditions failed to reproduce the high yield of DME due to possible limitation in mass and heat transfer. Successful scale-up was achieved by using an intensified fixed bed reactor (IFBR) where mass transfer limitation was essentially eliminated. The thermodynamic and kinetic parameters of the methoxylation of DHM were determined in the IFBR. The equilibrium constants of the methoxylation of DHM decreased with increasing reaction temperature, indicating an exothermic reaction. The kinetic data suggested that the methoxylation of DHM follows the Eley–Rideal mechanism.