Alcohol process, manufacture

Ethyne is the starting point for the manufacture of a wide range of chemicals, amongst which the most important are acrylonitrile, vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, ethanal, ethanoic acid, tri- and perchloro-ethylene, neoprene and polyvinyl alcohol. Processes such as vinylation, ethinylation, carbonylation, oligomerization and Reppe processes offer the possibility of producing various organic chemicals cheaply. Used in oxy-acetylene welding. 

A.luminum Jilkyl Chain Growth. Ethyl, Chevron, and Mitsubishi Chemical manufacture higher, linear alpha olefins from ethylene via chain growth on triethyl aluminum (15). The linear products are then used as oxo feedstock for both plasticizer and detergent range alcohols and because the feedstocks are linear, the linearity of the alcohol product, which has an entirely odd number of carbons, is a function of the oxo process employed. Alcohols are manufactured from this type of olefin by Sterling, Exxon, ICI, BASE, Oxochemie, and Mitsubishi Chemical. 

Solubility. SolubiUty in water is less than 2% the solubiUty in ethanol is given by the ratio one part vanillin to two parts alcohol. Certain manufacturing processes require that the product be in Hquid form. Depending on the appHcation, the solvent must be chosen in accordance with the manufacturing process and regulation requirements. 

Poly(vinyl alcohol) can be derived from the hydrolysis of a variety of poly(vinyl esters), such as poly(vinyl acetate), poly(vinyl formate), and poly(vinyl ben2oate), and of poly(vinyl ethers). However, all commercially produced poly(vinyl alcohol) is manufactured by the hydrolysis of poly(vinyl acetate). The manufacturing process can be viewed as one segment that deals with the polymeri2ation of vinyl acetate and another that handles the hydrolysis of poly(vinyl acetate) to poly(vinyl alcohol). 

Specially Denatured Alcohol. Specially denatured alcohols (SDA) are formulations of ethanol containing denaturant substances that generally render them unfit for beverage use but do not limit their use in specified appHcations. To use a specially denatured alcohol, a manufacturer must apply to the BATE, giving quantitative formulas and processes. Specimen labels and a sample of the finished product are also required. Then, the prospective user must obtain a bond for the total amount of specially denatured alcohol on hand or in transit at any given time. 

An increased incidence of cancer of the paranasal sinuses was observed in workers at factories where isopropyl alcohol was manufactured by the strong-acid process (lARC, 1987). The risk for laryngeal cancer may also have been elevated in these workers. It is unclear whether the cancer risk was due to the presence of diisopropyl sulfate, which is an intermediate in the process, to isopropyl oils, which are formed as by-products, or to other factors, such as sulfuric acid. 

A detailed discussion on surfactants from secondary alcohols which are relatively little known in the U.S. is included, together with a review of linear alcohol processes (Oxo and Ziegler) and detergent applications of the Ziegler alcohols. Also covered is a discussion of the revolutionary rhodium oxo process which has already resulted in a number of new plants—announced, under construction, or in operation, worldwide—for the manufacture of n-butanol and 2-ethylhexanol. Applications of these alcohols are also discussed. 

Fig. 10.19. Flow diagram of a process for primary alcohols from ethylene. (Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Kirk and Othmer, Web site ed., alcohols, higher aliphatic, synthetic processes, manufacture, 2002. Copyright by John Wiley Sons, Inc. and reproduced by permission of the copyright owner.)... 

Amyl alcohols occur in eight isomeric forms and have the empirical formula CjHnOH. All are liquids at ambient conditions except 2,2-dimethylpropanol (neopentyl alcohol), which is a solid. Almost all amyl alcohols are manufactured in the United States by the hydroformylation of butylenes. Yeast fermentation processes for ethanol yield small amounts of 4-methyl-l-butanol (isoamyl alcohol) and 2-methyl-1-butanol (active amyl alcohol, scc-butyl-carbinol) as fusel oil. However, when the amino acids leucine and isoleucine are added to sugar fermentations by yeast, 87% and 80% yields of 4-methyl-l-butanol and 2-methyl-l-butanol, respectively, are obtained (Fieser and Fieser, 1950). These reactions are not suitable for commercial applications because of cost, but they do indicate the close structural relationship between these C5 amino acids and the C5 alcohols. The reactions occur under nitrogen-deficient conditions. If a nitrogen source is readily available, the production of the alcohols is lowered considerably. 

Use Blast furnaces copper smelting steel production (basic oxygen converter process) manufacture of synthesis gas for production of ammonia, methyl alcohol, acetylene, etc. oxidizer for liquid rocket propellants resuscitation, heart stimulant decompression chambers spacecraft chemical intermediate to replace air in oxidation of municipal and industrial organic wastes to counteract effect of eutrophication in lakes and reservoirs coal gasification. 

Spirits may be divided roughly into two classes, (1) pot-still spirits, including brandy and whiskey and (2) gin spirits, made by the suitable treatment of plain rectified spirit or alcohol. The manufacture of spirits was made possible only by the discovery of the process of distillation, and is not, therefore, of such antiquity as the wine and beer industries. The products differ from fermented liquors from which they are produced, mainly in the larger content of... 

Synthesis. Benzyl alcohol is manufactured mainly by two processes. 

Certain petrochemical plant effluents, especially in polymer production, are low in dissolved pollution and loaded with SS and HC. In contrast, when solvent or alcohol processes are involved, or when sophisticated products and additives for the pharmaceutical industry are manufactured, the dissolved BOD5 becomes the main pollution fraction and can reach 500 to 1500 mg l . 

Polyvinyl acetals are manufactured by reacting aldehydes with polyvinyl alcohol in the presence of an acid catalyst. Polyvinyl alcohols are manufactured by transesterification of polyvinyl acetate. The catalyst is either acid or base depending on the process. Polyvinyl acetate is polymerized from vinyl acetate by mass suspension or batch solution or continuous solution polymerization. 

H2N-CH2 [CH2j3.CH(NH2) COOH. Colourless needles, m.p. 224 C (decomp.), very soluble in water, insoluble in alcohol. L-(-H)-Lysine is one of the basic amino-acids occurring in particularly large quantities in the protamine and histone classes of proteins. It is an essential amino-acid, which cannot be synthesized by the body and must be present in the food for proper growth. It can be manufactured by various fermentation processes or by synthesis. 

Carbon dioxide is used in the manufacture of sodium carbonate by the ammonia-soda process, urea, salicyclic acid (for aspirin), fire extinguishers and aerated water. Lesser amounts are used to transfer heat generated by an atomic reactor to water and so produce steam and electric power, whilst solid carbon dioxide is used as a refrigerant, a mixture of solid carbon dioxide and alcohol providing a good low-temperature bath (195 K) in which reactions can be carried out in the laboratory. 

Zemplen helped his students in many ways. I remember an occasion in the difficult postwar period. The production of the famous Hungarian salami, interrupted by the war, was just in the process of being restarted for export. The manufacturer wanted a supportive analysis from the well-known professor. Zemplen asked for a suitable sample of some hundreds of kilograms, on which the whole institute lived for weeks. When it was gone he rightly could offer an opinion that the product was quite satisfactory. After the war, grain alcohol was for a long time the only available and widely used laboratory solvent, and, not unexpectedly, it also found other uses. Later, when it was denatured to prevent human consumption, we devised clever ways for its purification. The lab also manufactured saccharine, which was... 

Since 1960, the Hquid-phase oxidation of ethylene has been the process of choice for the manufacture of acetaldehyde. There is, however, stiU some commercial production by the partial oxidation of ethyl alcohol and hydration of acetylene. The economics of the various processes are strongly dependent on the prices of the feedstocks. Acetaldehyde is also formed as a coproduct in the high temperature oxidation of butane. A more recently developed rhodium catalyzed process produces acetaldehyde from synthesis gas as a coproduct with ethyl alcohol and acetic acid (83—94). 

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