CPME features (1) lower solubility in water and (2) higher resistance to form the hazardous peroxide compounds than the existing ether solvents, which led to reduce environment and production costs.
Its remarkable features are described as
| (1) | A lower aqueous solubility, readily separate and recover from water, resulting in a reduction in the volume of drainage and wastewater. |
| (2) | A higher resistance to form peroxide compounds, which can easily recover by distillation. |
| (3) | Available as a solvent in all three chemical processes of reaction, extraction, and crystallization. In addition, a substantially cost saving on its operating and facilities by the production method continuously supporting the aforesaid pocesses in a reactor. |
CPME, a solvent for chemical processes in the production of pharmaceuticals and electronic materials, can be also used as alternatives for the existing ether solvents such as tetrahydrofuran (THF), diethyl ether (ether), and methyl tertiarybutyl ether (MTBE).
CPME's research and development was financially supported under a national project of "Development of Next-Generation Chemical Process Technology"by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), Japan's largest public R&D management organization for promoting the development of advanced industrial, environmental, new energy and energy conservation technologies.
