Ineos Acrylics

Alpha (2) A process for making methyl methacrylate, developed by Ineos Acrylics (now Lucite International) since 1990. Ethylene is carbonylated and methylated to produce methyl propionate, which is reacted with formaldehyde to produce methyl methacrylate. The first stage is homogeneously catalyzed by a palladium phosphine complex. The second stage is operated in the gas phase over a proprietary basic heterogeneous catalyst. Piloted by Davy Process Technology in 2002. The first commercial plant is to be built in Singapore, completion expected in early 2008. The second will be built in Texas by Mitsubishi Rayon, for completion in late 2009. 

The author would like to thank Mike Chisholm (Ineos Acrylics), Alan Butters (ICl Imagedata), Bob Tooze (ICI Synetix) and Chris Borman (Du Pont) for a number of useful discussions. 

Ineos Acrylics bought ICI Acrylics in 1999. The company is the largest world producer of MMA feedstock for PMMA with aimual sales of 1 billion in 2001. It has 15 production sites in nine countries and employs more than 2,000 people in Asia, the Americas and Europe. Ineos has 180,000 tpa of capacity for production of MMA at the Billingham site in the UK. The company has a further 325,000 tpa of MMA capacity at two separate locations in the USA. In 2002, the company changed its name to Lucite International after its best-known brand. 

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