Iodide catalyst acetic acid production

A typical configuration for a methanol carbonylation plant is shown in Fig. 1. The feedstocks (MeOH and CO) are fed to the reactor vessel on a continuous basis. In the initial product separation step, the reaction mixture is passed from the reactor into a flash-tank where the pressure is reduced to induce vapourisation of most of the volatiles. The catalyst remains dissolved in the liquid phase and is recycled back to the reactor vessel. The vapour from the flash-tank is directed into a distillation train which removes methyl iodide, water and heavier by-products (e.g. propionic acid) from the acetic acid product. 

For Reaction 4 to proceed selectively it will be necessary that Reaction 5c proceeds faster than, or concertedly with. Reactions 5a, b so that no substantial build-up of EDA can take place and hence Reaction 6 will be prevented. Thus, we interpret the exceptional behaviour of Znl2, CH3I, and HI as iodide promoters in the sense that they allow a high hydrogenolysis-hydrogenation activity of the Ru function in the catalyst system. Whereas the hydrocarbonylation function of Rh (Reactions 5a, b)is promoted by a variety of iodides, it appears that the hydrogenolysis function of Ru (Reaction 5c)is very sensitive to the nature of the iodide source used, as evidenced by a low ethyl acetate/acetic acid product ratio obtained with iodides such as AII3 and Lil. 

As well as the water produced by esterification, quite a high concentration of water (ca. 10 M) is required to maintain high rates and prevent deactivation by precipitation of the rhodium catalyst (see Box 3). Separation of water from the acetic acid product by distillation incurs substantial costs. In addition, high water levels increase the rate of the water gas shift reaction (Section 4.1.3), catalyzed in competition with carbonylation by the rhodium/iodide system... 

The reactor effluent pressure is reduced and adiabatically flashed to recover acetic acid as vapor. The liquid phase contains the homogeneous catalyst which is pumped back to the reactor. The flashed vapor enters the light ends column where low molecular weight hydrocarbons are removed and a heavy fraction including water and hydrogen iodide is condensed and recycled to the reactor flash tank. The acetic acid product is removed from the column as a liquid side draw and further purified in downstream distillation columns. 

In the BASF process, methanol and CO are converted in the liquid phase by a homogeneous Co-based catalyst. The reaction takes place in a high-pressure Hastelloy reactor. In recent decades the BASF process has been increasingly replaced by low-pressure alternatives mainly due to lower investment and operating costs. In the low-pressure Monsanto process methanol and CO react continuously in liquid phase in the presence of a Rhl2 catalyst. In 1996, BP developed a new attractive catalyst based on iridium (Cativa process) the oxidative addition of methyl iodide to iridium is 150-times faster than to rhodium. The search for acetic acid production processes with even lower raw material costs has led to attempts to produce acetic acid by ethane oxidation. In the near future ethane oxidation will most likely not compete with methanol carbonylation (even though ethane is a very cheap and attractive raw material) because of the low ethane conversions, product inhibition problems, and a large variety of by-products. 

The discovoy of methanol carbonylation to acetic acid, with cobalt iodide as the catalyst, goes back to 1913. In 1960 BASF operated a small Co-based methanol carbonylation plant. The Co-catalyzed process requires high pressure and temperature ( 00 bar, 230°C) and is of moderate selectivity. The selectivity with respect to CO and methanol are -70% and -90%, respectively. Acetic acid production is accompanied by unwanted side products such as acetaldehyde, ethanol, and propionic acid. 

The unit has virtually the same flow sheet (see Fig. 2) as that of methanol carbonylation to acetic acid (qv). Any water present in the methyl acetate feed is destroyed by recycle anhydride. Water impairs the catalyst. Carbonylation occurs in a sparged reactor, fitted with baffles to diminish entrainment of the catalyst-rich Hquid. Carbon monoxide is introduced at about 15—18 MPa from centrifugal, multistage compressors. Gaseous dimethyl ether from the reactor is recycled with the CO and occasional injections of methyl iodide and methyl acetate may be introduced. Near the end of the life of a catalyst charge, additional rhodium chloride, with or without a ligand, can be put into the system to increase anhydride production based on net noble metal introduced. The reaction is exothermic, thus no heat need be added and surplus heat can be recovered as low pressure steam. 

Catalysts. Iodine and its compounds ate very active catalysts for many reactions (133). The principal use is in the production of synthetic mbber via Ziegler-Natta catalysts systems. Also, iodine and certain iodides, eg, titanium tetraiodide [7720-83-4], are employed for producing stereospecific polymers, such as polybutadiene mbber (134) about 75% of the iodine consumed in catalysts is assumed to be used for polybutadiene and polyisoprene polymeri2a tion (66) (see RUBBER CHEMICALS). Hydrogen iodide is used as a catalyst in the manufacture of acetic acid from methanol (66). A 99% yield as acetic acid has been reported. In the heat stabiH2ation of nylon suitable for tire cordage, iodine is used in a system involving copper acetate or borate, and potassium iodide (66) (see Tire cords). 

Historically, the rhodium catalyzed carbonylation of methanol to acetic acid required large quantities of methyl iodide co-catalyst (1) and the related hydrocarboxylation of olefins required the presence of an alkyl iodide or hydrogen iodide (2). Unfortunately, the alkyl halides pose several significant difficulties since they are highly toxic, lead to iodine contamination of the final product, are highly corrosive, and are expensive to purchase and handle. Attempts to eliminate alkyl halides or their precursors have proven futile to date (1). 

The principal competing reactions to ruthenium-catalyzed acetic acid homologation appear to be water-gas shift to C02, hydrocarbon formation (primarily ethane and propane in this case) plus smaller amounts of esterification and the formation of ethyl acetate (see Experimental Section). Unreacted methyl iodide is rarely detected in these crude liquid products. The propionic acid plus higher acid product fractions may be isolated from the used ruthenium catalyst and unreacted acetic acid by distillation in vacuo. 

Deuteration studies with acetic acid-d4 (99.5% atom D) as the carboxylic acid building block, ruthenium(IV) oxide plus methyl iodide-d3 as catalyst couple and 1/1 (C0/H2) syngas, were less definitive (see Table III). Typical samples of propionic and butyric acid products, isolated by distillation in vacuo and glc trapping, and analyzed by NMR, indicated considerable scrambling had occurred within the time frame of the acid homologation reaction. 

Acetic acid can be synthesized from methane using an aqueous-phase homogeneous system comprising RhCI as catalyst, CO and 02.17 Side-products included methanol and formic acid, although yields of acetic acid increased upon addition of either Pd/C or iodide ions. The active species is thought to be a CH3-Rh(l) derivative, formed from the C-H activation of methane. The activation of ethane was also achieved, although selectivities were lower, with products including acetic and propionic acids and ethanol (Equation (9)). 

The two catalyst components are rhodium and iodide, which can be added in many forms. A large excess of iodide may be present. Rhodium is present as the anionic species RhI2(CO)2. Typically the rhodium concentration is 10 mM and the iodide concentration is 1.5 M, of which 20% occurs in the form of salts. The temperature is about 180 °C and the pressure is 50 bar. The methyl iodide formation from methanol is almost complete, which makes the reaction rate also practically independent of the methanol concentration. In other words, at any conversion level (except for very low methanol levels) the production rate is the same. For a continuous reactor this has the advantage that it can be operated at a high conversion level. As a result the required separation of methanol, methyl acetate, methyl iodide, and rhodium iodide from the product acetic acid is much easier. 

Reppe reaction involves carbonylation of methanol to acetic acid and methyl acetate and subsequent carbonylation of the product methyl acetate to acetic anhydride. The reaction is carried out at 600 atm and 230°C in the presence of iodide-promoted cobalt catalyst to form acetic acid at over 90% yield. In the presence of rhodium catalyst the reaction occurs at milder conditions at 30 to 60 atm and 150-200°C. Carbon monoxide can combine with higher alcohols, however, at a much slower reaction rate. 

In a more detailed examination of the ruthenium-cobalt-iodide "melt" catalyst system, we have followed the generation of acetic acid and its acetate esters as a function of catalyst composition and certain operating parameters, and examined the spectral properties of these reaction products, particularly with regard to the presence of identifiable metal carbonyl species. 

It is clear that ruthenium-cobalt-iodide catalyst dispersed in low-melting tetrabutylphosphonium bromide provides a unique means of selectively converting synthesis gas in one step to acetic acid. Modest changes in catalyst formulation can, however, have profound effects upon liquid product composition. 

The catalyst components are generally dissolved in methyl acetate which acts as both reactant and solvent. Other solvents may be used and in fact, upon several batch recycles where lower boiling products are distilled off, the solvent is an ethylidene diacetate-acetic acid mixture. Any water introduced in the reaction mixture will be consumed via ester and anhydride hydrolysis, therefore anhydrous conditions are warranted. Typical batch reaction examples are presented in Table 1. There is generally sufficient reactivity when carbon monoxide and hydrogen are present at 200-500 psi. Similar results were obtained from the pilot plant using a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The reaction can also be run continuously over a supported catalyst with a feed of methyl acetate, methyl iodide, CO, and hydrogen. 

The catalyst is generally a palladium compound promoted with a trivalent amine or phosphine in the presence of methyl iodide as described earlier. Systems proven to bias acetaldehyde are utilized, of course (e.g. see Table I, run 12). A yield of 85% acetaldehyde from methyl acetate is typical by this method. It can be utilized in stoichiometric addition to easily prepared acetic anhydride resulting in EDA formation. When considering that the "boiling pot" reaction by-products are recyclable acetic acid, acetic anhydride and small amounts of EDA, the yield to vinyl acetate related products is 95%. 

It was found that a nickel-activated carbon catalyst was effective for vapor phase carbonylation of dimethyl ether and methyl acetate under pressurized conditions in the presence of an iodide promoter. Methyl acetate was formed from dimethyl ether with a yield of 34% and a selectivity of 80% at 250 C and 40 atm, while acetic anhydride was synthesized from methyl acetate with a yield of 12% and a selectivity of 64% at 250 C and 51 atm. In both reactions, high pressure and high CO partial pressure favored the formation of the desired product. In spite of the reaction occurring under water-free conditions, a fairly large amount of acetic acid was formed in the carbonylation of methyl acetate. The route of acetic acid formation is discussed. A molybdenum-activated carbon catalyst was found to catalyze the carbonylation of dimethyl ether and methyl acetate. 

Table IV shows the reactivities of raw materials and products on a nickel-activated carbon catalyst and the effect of hydrogen on the reactions. When carbon monoxide and hydrogen were introduced into the catalyst, no product was formed. Thus, the hydrogenation of CO does not proceed at all. When methyl iodide was added to the above-mentioned feed, 43% of the methyl iodide was converted to methane. In the presence of methyl iodide small amounts of methane, methanol, and acetic acid were formed from methyl acetate, while small amounts of methane and acetic acid were also formed from acetic anhydride. Hydrogen fed with methyl acetate accelerated the formation of methane and acetic acid remarkably.

Rh > Ir > Ni > Pd > Co > Ru > Fe A plot of the relation between the catalytic activity and the affinity of the metals for halide ion resulted in a volcano shape. The rate determining step of the reaction was discussed on the basis of this affinity and the reaction order with respect to methyl iodide. Methanol was first carbonylated to methyl acetate directly or via dimethyl ether, then carbonylated again to acetic anhydride and finally quickly hydrolyzed to acetic acid. Overall kinetics were explored to simulate variable product profiles based on the reaction network mentioned above. Carbon monoxide was adsorbed weakly and associatively on nickel-activated-carbon catalysts. Carbon monoxide was adsorbed on nickel-y-alumina or nickel-silica gel catalysts more strongly and, in part, dissociatively,... 

Carbonylation of methanol to form acetic acid has been performed industrially using carbonyl complexes of cobalt ( ) or rhodium (2 ) and iodide promoter in the liquid phase. Recently, it has been claimed that nickel carbonyl or other nickel compounds are effective catalysts for the reaction at pressure as low as 30 atm (2/4), For the rhodium catalyst, the conditions are fairly mild (175 C and 28 atm) and the product selectivity is excellent (99% based on methanol). However, the process has the disadvantages that the proven reserves of rhodium are quite limited in both location and quantity and that the reaction medium is highly corrosive. It is highly desirable, therefore, to develop a vapor phase process, which is free from the corrosion problem, utilizing a base metal catalyst. The authors have already reported that nickel on activated carbon exhibits excellent catalytic activity for the carbonylation of... 

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