Direct synthesis of trimethoxysilane in orthogonal experiment

To improve the product yield and reduce industrial cost, the reaction of silicon with methanol using copper(I) chloride prepared by inverse disproportionation as a catalyst has been investigated. The Si-CuCl mixture is pretreated by microwave prior to feeding methanol. The catalyst is characterized by X-Ray Diffractomer (XRD), X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Orthogonal experiment is used to explore the influences of some factors on the silicon conversion and trimethoxysilane selectivity and yield. Orthogonal experimental results show that effect order of factors on the triethoxysilane yield is as follows: mass ratio of silicon in solvent, reaction temperature, dropping rate of methanol, mass ratio of catalysts in silicon, time of microwave pretreating and stirring rate. Under the optimized conditions, the trimethoxysilane yield efficiency can be as high as 84.94%.