Liquid-Phase Cracking of Dicyclopentadiene by Reactive Distillation

A reactive distillation process was developed for cracking dicyclopentadiene (DCPD) to produce cyclopentadiene (CPD). In the autoclave reactor, reaction temperature, reaction time, diluent, and inhibitors are investigated to study the effect of inhibiting oligomerization reactions. The introduction of auxiliary diluent and inhibitors prevents the oligomerization reactions. On the basis of autoclave results, the reaction is studied on a reactive distillation apparatus to enforce the cracking of DCPD and prohibit oligomerization simultaneously. Hence, the yield and purity of CPD reach 90 and 98 wt %, respectively. Reactive distillation greatly alleviates the formation of oligomers compared with conventional processes.