Systems Analysis of Benign Hydrogen Peroxide Synthesis in Supercritical CO2

Abstract In this paper, experimental information on the in-situ generation of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) for the production of pyridine oxide is integrated with process systems engineering analysis to enable systematic comparison between the different processing options. Process simulation models representing the traditional anthraquinone process have been developed from literature, while experimental studies provided the necessary data for the supercritical carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) process option. Analysis of the optimized models shows that in-situ generation of H 2 O 2 results in a more energy efficient and less environmentally harmful alternative to the conventional approach.