Ethene oxychlorination

An interesting example is ethene oxychlorination where the use of pure O2 instead of air as the oxidizing agent improves productivity and reduces the environmental impact. The oxychlorination of ethene to 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) reaction ... 

Table 5.3 Vent composition for the air-based and 02-based processes of ethene oxychlorination. Source Centi et al. [40],...

Conversion of air-based processes into oxygen-based processes in vapor-phase oxidation to reduce polluting emissions. Examples are (i) synthesis of formaldehyde from methanol, (ii) etheneepoxidation to ethene oxide and (iii) oxychlorination of ethene to 1,2-dichloroethane. 

Industrially it is produced by the chlorination of ethene, either by the direct chlorination process using chlorine or by the oxychlorination with hydrogen chloride as... 

In the oxychlorination process ethene and hydrogen chloride are reacted with oxygen in the presence of a catalyst, which consists in most cases of copper salts, the temperatures usually are above 200 °C. 

The numerous problems connected to the oxychlorination process, e.g. choosing the optimal catalyst system and grain size distribution, the selection of materials in contact with the hot, wet reaction gases containing chlorine, hydrochloric acid and solvents, removing the catalyst particles from the reaction gas and returning them to the reaction zone, removal of the produced water, recovery of unreacted ethene, have created a great variety of different technical solutions [360]. 

The basic feedstocks ethene and chlorine are reacted in the direct chlorination unit to give 1,2-dichloroethane. Additional EDC is produced in the oxychlorination process. The combined streams are purified and fed to the cracking unit, where the vinyl chloride is obtained. The HCl formed during the thermal decomposition is recycled to the oxychlorination process. 

In industrial scale PER is produced from ethene and/or 1,2-dichloroethane through 3 oxychlorination... 

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