oa Industrial Low Pressure Hydroformylation: Forty-Five Years of Progress for the LP Oxo^SM Process

Since the mid-1970s when the ‘Low Pressure Oxo’ process (LP Oxo^SM Process) was first commercialised, it has maintained its global position as the foremost oxo process, offering particular appeal to independent producers of commodity plasticisers facing increasing regulatory pressure. The story of this important industrial process is told from its early beginnings when laboratory discoveries by independent groups of researchers in USA and UK revealed the remarkable ability of organophosphine containing rhodium compounds to catalyse the hydroformylation reaction, and describes how its development, exploitation and continuing industrial relevance came about by collaboration between three companies: The Power-Gas Corporation, which later became Davy Process Technology before becoming part of Johnson Matthey; Union Carbide Corporation, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company; and Johnson Matthey.