Industrial styrene synthesis

The ODH of ethylbenzene to styrene is a highly promising alternative to the industrial process of non-oxidative dehydrogenation (DH). The main advantages are lower reaction temperatures of only 300 500 °C and the absence of a thermodynamic equilibrium. Coke formation is effectively reduced by working in an oxidative atmosphere, thus the presence of excess steam, which is the most expensive factor in industrial styrene synthesis, can be avoided. However, this process is still not commercialized so far due to insufficient styrene yields on the cost of unwanted hydrocarbon combustion to CO and C02, as well as the formation of styrene oxide, which is difficult to remove from the raw product. 

Dente and Ranzi (in Albright et al., eds.. Pyrolysis Theory and Industrial Practice, Academic Press, 1983, pp. 133-175) Mathematical modehng of hydrocarbon pyrolysis reactions Shah and Sharma (in Carberry and Varma, eds.. Chemical Reaction and Reaction Engineering Handbook, Dekker, 1987, pp. 713-721) Hydroxylamine phosphate manufacture in a slurry reactor Some aspects of a kinetic model of methanol synthesis are described in the first example, which is followed by a second example that describes coping with the multiphcity of reactants and reactions of some petroleum conversion processes. Then two somewhat simph-fied industrial examples are worked out in detail mild thermal cracking and production of styrene. Even these calculations are impractical without a computer. The basic data and mathematics and some of the results are presented. 

In his famous work of 1920 Hermann Staudinger first described the correct structure of polystyrene (10). It was Staudinger, too, who gave polystyrene its name and elucidated the mechanism of its formation (11). The polymerization of styrene provided access to a big class of substances and made a significant contribution to the understanding of natural polymers and to the synthesis of industrial plastics. A whole new branch of the chemical industry is based on the key substance polystyrene. 

Other important raw material uses of ethyl alcohol are conversion to esters and ethers, vinegar, ethyl chloride, butadiene, styrene, and chloral (for DDT). Nearly all the new developments in chemicals from ethyl alcohol, particularly the four-, six-, and eight-carbon derivatives are based on alcohol derived from petroleum. The butyl alcohol and butyl acetate so made supplement the production by fermentation and from oxidation of hydrocarbons and synthesis gas operations. The consumption of ethyl alcohol for all industrial uses (denatured alcohol) exceeded 1.2 billion pounds (100% basis) in 1950. More than 700,000,000 pounds of this were made from petroleum. 

An industrial process for the synthesis of styrene through the transformation of 4-vinylcyclohexene the other possible cyclodimer has been developed. 

A 2-cyclohexenone derivative can be transformed into the corresponding epoxy tosyl-hydrazone by sequential treatment with peracid and tosylhydrazine. The elimination of nitrogen and p-toluenesulfinate and fragmentation after rearrangement to the 3-tosylazo allylic alcohol may occur under mild conditions. Carbonyl compounds with 5,6-triple bonds are formed in high yields (J. Schreiber, 1967 M. Tanabe, 1967). If one applies this reaction to a 9,10-epoxy-1-decalone, a ten-membered 5-cyclodecyn-l-one ring is formed (D. Felix, 1971). This product is an important intermediate in the perfume industry and has been used on a large scale. For this purpose Eschenmoser developed a synthesis in which the readily removed styrene was split off instead of a sulfmic acid. Thus a l-amino-2-phenylaziridine hydrazone was used instead of a tosylhydrazone (D. Felix, 1968). ... 

The coupling of Grignard reagents with alkyl, vinyl or aryl halides under Ni-catalysis provides an economic transformation, but the reaction is limited to halide partners that do not react with organomagnesium compounds. One example is in the industrial-scale production of styrene derivatives, and the Kumada Coupling is the method of choice for the low-cost synthesis of unsymmetrical biaryls. 

New synthetic processes for the preparation of established products were also industrially developed in Japan the manufacture of methyl methacrylate from C4 olefins, by Sumitomo and Nippon Shokubai in France, the simultaneous production of hydroquinone and pyro-catechin through hydrogen peroxide oxidation of phenol by Rhone-Poulenc in the United States the production of propylene oxide through direct oxidation of propylene operating jointly with styrene production, developed by Ralph Landau and used in the Oxirane subsidiary with Arco, which the latter fully took over in 1980 in Germany and Switzerland, the synthesis of vitamin A from terpenes, used by BASF and Hoffmann-La Roche. 

Styrene is at the centre of an important industry, with a value of some 66 billion euros. The styrene production capacity is ca. 20 Mt/a worldwide. Most is obtained by ethylbenzene dehydrogenation and all the production is used for the synthesis of polymers (polystyrene, styrene-acrylonitrile, styrene-butadiene) used as plastics and rubbers in the manufacture of household products packaging, tubes, tires, and endless other applications (see also Chapter 7). 

More industrial polyethylene copolymers were modeled using the same method of ADMET polymerization followed by hydrogenation using catalyst residue. Copolymers of ethylene-styrene, ethylene-vinyl chloride, and ethylene-acrylate were prepared to examine the effect of incorporation of available vinyl monomer feed stocks into polyethylene [81]. Previously prepared ADMET model copolymers include ethylene-co-carbon monoxide, ethylene-co-carbon dioxide, and ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol [82,83]. In most cases,these copolymers are unattainable by traditional chain polymerization chemistry, but a recent report has revealed a highly active Ni catalyst that can successfully copolymerize ethylene with some functionalized monomers [84]. Although catalyst advances are proving more and more useful in novel polymer synthesis, poor structure control and reactivity ratio considerations are still problematic in chain polymerization chemistry. 

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