Acetaldehyde Wacker process

Air oxidation of a variety of aliphatic and alkyl aromatic compounda air oxidation of p-nitrotoluene sulfuric acid substitution chlorination of a variety of organic compounds reaction between isobutylene and acetic acid oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde (Wacker processes) hydrochlorination of olehns absorption of phosphine in an aqueous soluhon of formaldehyde and hydrochloric acid acehc acid from the carbonylation of methanol oxidation of tri-alkyl phosphine dimerization of olefins. 

Oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde (Wacker process) 100-120°C, 1-10 bar, PdCyCuClj catalyst. 

Liquid-phase oxidation of gaseous substrates with O2, such as the oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde (Wacker process) is another example of this class of reactions. A mathematical model for a bubble column reactor for this reaction, assuming plug flow of gas and mixed flow of liquid, was developed (Rode et al., 1994). It was shown that a critical oxygen concentration in the inlet is necessary to sustain the catalytic cycle, and a model for predicting this was proposed (Bhattacharya and Chaudhari, 1990). 

The use of liquid membranes for controlling chemical reactions such as that just discussed has been proposed for a number of other systems. This type of application, in which liquid membranes are used as heterogeneous catalysts or as reaction moderators, is an area that deserves more study. Ollis et al. and Wolytdc and Ollis studied liquid membranes as heterogeneous catalyst systems using the catalytic oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde (Wacker process) as a model. This process entails the following three... 

Fig. 12.13 Suggested mechanism for the oxidation of ethene to acetaldehyde (Wacker process).

In recent years it has become evident that many metal-catalyzed reactions proceed via a substrate metal 7r-complex intermediate. Commercially, the most significant of these include the polymerization of ethylene, the hydro-formylation of olefins yielding aldehydes (oxo process), and the air oxidation of ethylene-producing acetaldehyde (Wacker process). 

Although Pd is cheaper than Rh and Pt, it is still expensive. In Pd(0)- or Pd(ll)-catalyzed reactions, particularly in commercial processes, repeated use of Pd catalysts is required. When the products are low-boiling, they can be separated from the catalyst by distillation. The Wacker process for the production of acetaldehyde is an example. For less volatile products, there are several approaches to the economical uses of Pd catalysts. As one method, an alkyldi-phenylphosphine 9, in which the alkyl group is a polyethylene chain, is prepared as shown. The Pd complex of this phosphine has low solubility in some organic solvents such as toluene at room temperature, and is soluble at higher temperature[28]. Pd(0)-catalyzed reactions such as an allylation reaction of nucleophiles using this complex as a catalyst proceed smoothly at higher temperatures. After the reaction, the Pd complex precipitates and is recovered when the reaction mixture is cooled. 

Formation of acetaldehyde and metallic Pd by passing ethylene into an aqueous solution of PdCl2 was reported by Phillips in 1894 15] and used for the quantitative analysis of Pd(II)[16], The reaction was highlighted after the industrial process for acetaldehyde production from ethylene based on this reaetion had been developed[l,17,18]. The Wacker process (or reaction) involves the three unit reactions shown. The unique feature in the Wacker process is the invention of the in situ redox system of PdCl2-CuCl2. 

In addition to these principal commercial uses of molybdenum catalysts, there is great research interest in molybdenum oxides, often supported on siHca, ie, MoO —Si02, as partial oxidation catalysts for such processes as methane-to-methanol or methane-to-formaldehyde (80). Both O2 and N2O have been used as oxidants, and photochemical activation of the MoO catalyst has been reported (81). The research is driven by the increased use of natural gas as a feedstock for Hquid fuels and chemicals (82). Various heteropolymolybdates (83), MoO.-containing ultrastable Y-zeoHtes (84), and certain mixed metal molybdates, eg, MnMoO Ee2(MoO)2, photoactivated CuMoO, and ZnMoO, have also been studied as partial oxidation catalysts for methane conversion to methanol or formaldehyde (80) and for the oxidation of C-4-hydrocarbons to maleic anhydride (85). Heteropolymolybdates have also been shown to effect ethylene (qv) conversion to acetaldehyde (qv) in a possible replacement for the Wacker process. 

Ca.ta.lysis, The most important iadustrial use of a palladium catalyst is the Wacker process. The overall reaction, shown ia equations 7—9, iavolves oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde by Pd(II) followed by Cu(II)-cataly2ed reoxidation of the Pd(0) by oxygen (204). Regeneration of the catalyst can be carried out in situ or ia a separate reactor after removing acetaldehyde. The acetaldehyde must be distilled to remove chloriaated by-products. 

Alternatively, the intermediate acetaldehyde (qv) for this process was obtained from ethylene by the Wacker process (9). A small amount of -butyl alcohol is produced in the United States by the Ziegler-Natta chain growth reaction from ethylene [74-85-1] (10). 

Whereas this reaction was used to oxidize ethylene (qv) to acetaldehyde (qv), which in turn was oxidized to acetic acid, the direct carbonylation of methanol (qv) to acetic acid has largely replaced the Wacker process industrially (see Acetic acid and derivatives). A large number of other oxidation reactions of hydrocarbons by oxygen involve coordination compounds as detailed elsewhere (25). 

Acetaldehyde [75-07-0] can be obtained by the Wacker process, ia which a homogeneous CuC —PdCl system is used for the oxidation. 

The Wacker process for the oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde with PdCb/CuCb at 100°C (212°F) with 95 percent yield and 95 to 99 percent conversion per pass. 

A common property of coordinated alkenes is their susceptibility to attack by nucleophiles such as OH , OMe , MeC02, and Cl , and it has long been known that Zeise s salt is slowly attacked by non-acidic water to give MeCHO and Pt metal, while corresponding Pd complexes are even more reactive. This forms the basis of the Wacker process (developed by J. Smidt and his colleagues at Wacker Chemie, 1959-60) for converting ethene (ethylene) into ethanal (acetaldehyde) — see Panel overleaf. 

With the growing prominence of the petrochemicals industry this technology was, in turn, replaced by direct air oxidation of naphtha or butane. Both these processes have low selectivities but the naphtha route is still used since it is a valuable source of the co-products, formic and propanoic acid. The Wacker process, which uses ethylene as a feedstock for palladium/copper chloride catalysed synthesis of acetaldehyde, for which it is still widely used (Box 9.1), competed with the direct oxidation routes for a number of years. This process, however, produced undesirable amounts of chlorinated and oxychlorinated by-products, which required separation and disposal. 

The free HCl and Cl generated in the catalytic cycle produce environmentally harmful chlorinated by-products to the extent that more than 3 kg of HCl need to be added to the reactor per tonne of acetaldehyde produced to keep the catalytic cycle going. Modified catalysts such as ones based on palladium/ phosphomolybdovanadates have been suggested as a way of reducing byproduct formation to less than 1% of that of the conventional Wacker process. These catalysts have yet to make an impact on commercial acetic production, however. 

Palladium-catalyzed oxidation of hydrocarbons has been a matter of intense research for about four decades. The field was initiated by the development of the aerobic oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde catalyzed by palladium chloride and co-catalyzed by cupric chloride (the Wacker process, equation l)1. 

Consortium The Consortium fur Elektrochemische Industrie, founded by A. Wacker in Germany in 1903, is the corporate research laboratory of Wacker-Chemie. Many processes have been developed in this laboratory, but the one for which it is best known is the Wacker process for making acetaldehyde this has also been called the Consortium process. 

The naming of this process has been confused because of various corporate relationships. The basic invention was created in 1957 at the Consortium fur Elektrochemische Industrie, Munich, a wholly owned subsidiary of Wacker-Chemie. It has therefore been called both the Wacker process and the Consortium process. But for many years, Wacker-Chemie has had a close relationship with Farbwerke Hoechst and the latter company has participated in some of the development and licensing activities, so two other names have come to be used Wacker-Hoechst and Hoechst-Wacker. The live inventors (J. Schmidt, W. Hafner, J. Sedlmeier, R. Jira, and R. Riittinger) received the Dechema prize in 1962 for this invention. The acetaldehyde process was first operated commercially in 1960. In 1997, this process was used in making 85 percent of the world s production of acetaldehyde. Although Wacker-Chemie still makes vinyl acetate, it no longer uses the Wacker process to do so. 

Equation 11 occurs via 3-H abstraction by Pd(II) [33,40-42] Eq. 12 is related to the water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) [43-45] Eq. 13 and Eq. 14 are related to the oxidation of C2H4 to acetaldehyde by Pd(II) in the presence of H20 in the Wacker process [46]. Equation 15 has been shown to occur with octamethylferrocene-phosphine complexes [47]. Formic acid can also be a source of hydride species [48]. 

Acetaldehyde is the product of the Wacker process. At the end of the fifties oxidation of ethene to ethanal replaced the addition of water to acetylene, because the acetylene/coal-based chemistry became obsolete, and the ethene/petrochemistry entered the commercial organic chemicals scene. The acetylene route involved one of the oldest organometallics-mediated catalytic routes started up in the 1920s the catalyst system comprised mercury in sulfuric acid. Coordination of acetylene to mercury(II) activates it toward nucleophilic attack of water, but the reaction is slow and large reactor volumes of this toxic catalyst were needed. An equally slow related catalytic process, the zinc catalysed addition of carboxylic acids to acetylene, is still in use in paint manufacture. 

VAM can be produced starting from ethylene, which is converted to acetic acid via acetaldehyde by two sequential oxidation steps (reactions 1 and 2 in Fig. 2), the first step being the famous Wacker process (reaction 1 in Fig. 2) [14]. 

The complex ion catalyzes various types of organic reactions including oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde in aqueous solution (the Wacker Process) ... 

The Wacker process (Eq. 1) was developed nearly 50 years ago [1-3] and represents one of the most successful examples of homogeneous catalysis in industry [4-9]. This palladium-catalyzed method for the oxidation of ethylene to acetaldehyde in aqueous solution employs a copper cocatalyst to facilitate aerobic oxidation of Pd° (Scheme 1). Despite the success of this process, certain features of the reaction have Umited the development of related aerobic oxidation reactions. Many organic molecules are only sparingly sol-... 

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