Recent Advances in Greener and Energy Efficient Alkene Epoxidation Processes

The chemical industry is considered to be one of the largest consumers of energy in the manufacturing sector. As the cost of energy is rising rapidly, coupled with the increasingly stringent standards for the release of harmful chemicals and gases into the environment, more attention is now focused on developing energy efficient chemical processes that could significantly reduce both operational costs and greenhouse gas emissions. Alkene epoxidation is an important chemical process as the resultant epoxides are highly reactive compounds that are used as platform chemicals for the production of commercially important products for flavours, fragrances, paints and pharmaceuticals. A number of epoxidation methods have been developed over the past decade with the ultimate aim of minimising waste generation and energy consumption. In this review paper, some of the recent advances in epoxides synthesis using energy efficient processes are discussed. The epoxidation methods may provide sustainability in terms of environmental impact and energy consumption.