Methyl isobutyl ketone process

S. Takaoka, Acetone, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, and Methyl Isobutyl Ketone, Process Economics Program, Report No. 77, SRI, Menlo Park, Calif., May 1972. 

A yield of about 95% of theoretical is achieved using this process (1.09 units of isopropyl alcohol per unit of acetone produced). Depending on the process technology and catalyst system, such coproducts as methyl isobutyl ketone and diisobutyl ketone can be produced with acetone (30). 

Reduction. Most ketones are readily reduced to the corresponding secondary alcohol by a variety of hydrogenation processes. The most commonly used catalysts are palladium, platinum, and nickel For example, 4-methyl-2-pentanol (methyl isobutyl carbinol) is commercially produced by the catalytic reduction of 4-methyl-2-pentanone (methyl isobutyl ketone) over nickel. 

Solvent Treatment. Solvent processes can be divided into two main categories, solvent extraction and solvent dewaxing. The solvent used in the extraction processes include propane and cresyHc acid, 2,2 -dichlorodiethyl ether, phenol (qv), furfural, sulfur dioxide, benzene, and nitrobenzene. In the dewaxing process (28), the principal solvents are benzene, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, propane, petroleum naphtha, ethylene dichloride, methylene chloride, sulfur dioxide, and iV-methylpyrroHdinone. 

Many organic reagents have been used successfully in Pu separation processes. The reagents include tri- -butyl phosphate (TBP) methyl isobutyl ketone thenoyl ttifluoroacetone (TTA) ethers, eg, diethyl ether, di- -butyl ether, tetraethylene glycol dibutyl ether trdaurylamine (TT,A) trioctylamine (TOA) di- -butyl phosphate (DBP) hexyl-di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (HDEHP) and many others. Of these, TBP is by far the most widely used (30,95). 

Historically, the Redox process was used to achieve the same purification as in the Purex process (97,129). The reagents were hexone (methyl isobutyl ketone) as the solvent, dichromate as an oxidant, and A1(N02)3 as the salting agent. The chief disadvantages of hexone are its flammability and its solubihty in water. However, because A1(N03)3 collects in the highly radioactive waste, thereby impeding the latter s further processing, the Redox process was abandoned in favor of the Purex process. 

Dehydrogenation processes for acetone, methyl isobutyl ketone [108-10-1], and higher ketones (qv) utilizing, in one process, a copper-based catalyst have been disclosed (18,19). Dehydrogenation reaction is used to study the acid—base character of catalytic sites on a series of oxides (20,21). 

Chemical. The use of isopropyl alcohol as a feedstock for the production of acetone is expected to remain stable, as the dominant process for acetone is cumene oxidation. Isopropyl alcohol is also consumed in the production of other chemicals such as methyl isobutyl ketone, methyl isobutyl carbinol [108-11-2] isopropjlamine, and isopropyl acetate. The use of diisopropyl ether as a fuel ether may become a significant oudet for isopropyl alcohol. 

Fig. 2. The processing of Ta—Nb raw materials where MIBK = methyl isobutyl ketone.

There are a number of minerals in which thorium is found. Thus a number of basic process flow sheets exist for the recovery of thorium from ores (10). The extraction of mona ite from sands is accompHshed via the digestion of sand using hot base, which converts the oxide to the hydroxide form. The hydroxide is then dissolved in hydrochloric acid and the pH adjusted to between 5 and 6, affording the separation of thorium from the less acidic lanthanides. Thorium hydroxide is dissolved in nitric acid and extracted using methyl isobutyl ketone or tributyl phosphate in kerosene to yield Th(N02)4,... 

In the initial thiocyanate-complex Hquid—Hquid extraction process (42,43), the thiocyanate complexes of hafnium and zirconium were extracted with ether from a dilute sulfuric acid solution of zirconium and hafnium to obtain hafnium. This process was modified in 1949—1950 by an Oak Ridge team and is stiH used in the United States. A solution of thiocyanic acid in methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) is used to extract hafnium preferentially from a concentrated zirconium—hafnium oxide chloride solution which also contains thiocyanic acid. The separated metals are recovered by precipitation as basic zirconium sulfate and hydrous hafnium oxide, respectively, and calcined to the oxide (44,45). This process is used by Teledyne Wah Chang Albany Corporation and Western Zirconium Division of Westinghouse, and was used by Carbomndum Metals Company, Reactive Metals Inc., AMAX Specialty Metals, Toyo Zirconium in Japan, and Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann in France. 

Several examples of cost-effective liquid-hquid extraction processes include the recovery of acetic acid from water (Fig. 15-1), using ethyl ether or ethyl acetate as described by Brown [Chem. Eng. Prog., 59(10), 6.5 (1963)], or the recoveiy of phenolics from water as described by Lauer, Littlewood, and Butler [7/Steel Eng., 46(5), 99 (1969)] with butyl acetate, or with isopropyl ether as described by Wurm [Gliickauf, 12, 517 (1968)], or with methyl isobutyl ketone as described by Scheibel [ Liqmd-Liquid Extraction, in Periy Weiss-... 

The following is an example of the conduct of such a process. To a vigorously agitated mixture of 100 ml of methyl isobutyl ketone there are added at 25° to 30°C 15 ml of water and 10 ml of a mixture of secondary amines. 

A Catalytic Distillation Process for the One Step Synthesis of Methyl Isobutyl Ketone from Acetone Liquid Phase Kinetics of the Hydrogenation of Mesityl Oxide... 

The aldol condensation of acetone to diacetone alcohol is the first step in a three-step process in the traditional method for the production of methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK). This reaction is catalysed by aqueous NaOH in the liquid phase. (3) The second step involves the acid catalysed dehydration of diacetone alcohol (DAA) to mesityl oxide (MO) by H2S04 at 373 K. Finally the MO is hydrogenated to MIBK using Cu or Ni catalysts at 288 - 473 K and 3- 10 bar (3). 

Pellenberg and Church [25] sampled stored and processed saline water samples from the Delaware Bay estuary in a variety of ways to allow different methods of maintaining their integrity to be compared. Samples were processed onboard ship, immediately after collection, by extraction with ammonium pyrollidinedithiocarbamate in methyl isobutyl ketone. 

Redox [Reduction oxidation] A process for separating the components of used nuclear fuel by solvent extraction. It was the first process to be used and was brought into operation at Hanford, United States, in 1951, but was superseded in 1954 by the Purex process. The key to the process was the alternate reduction and oxidation of the plutonium, hence the name. The solvent was Hexone (4-methyl-2-pentanone, methyl isobutyl ketone), so the process was also known as the Hexone process. The aqueous phase contained a high... 

It is clear that kinetic effects must be utilized in the design of a process to make the commercially available Form A, because it is never the most thermodynamically stable form. Information from the literature and patents in reference [14] indicates that Form A can be successfully isolated from Acetonitrile, Acetone, Methyl isobutyl ketone, Toluene, the C2 to C4 alkenols, Ethanol, Methanol and Propan-2-ol. In these solvents it is likely that solvation is favourable to the nucleation rate of Form A or detrimental to crystal growth of the other forms, or both. For a new development compound there should be similar solvent interaction data available from polymorph screening experiments. 

Dewaxing (Figure 4.17) processes also produce heater stack gas (carbon monoxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter) as well as hydrocarbon emission such as fugitive propane and fugitive solvents. Steam stripping wastewater (oil and solvents) and solvent recovery wastewater (oil and propane) are also produced. The fugitive solvent emissions may be toxic (toluene, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone). 

Now, IPA is used primarily as a coating and processing solvent in paints, electronics applications, synthetic resins, personal care products, and cosmetics. It is also used as a chemical intermediate for isopropyl esters, isopropyl amines, methyl isobutyl ketone, diisobutyl ketone, and hydrogen peroxide production.-... 

In 1942, the Mallinckrodt Chemical Company adapted a diethylether extraction process to purify tons of uranium for the U.S. Manhattan Project [2] later, after an explosion, the process was switched to less volatile extractants. For simultaneous large-scale recovery of the plutonium in the spent fuel elements from the production reactors at Hanford, United States, methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) was originally chosen as extractant/solvent in the so-called Redox solvent extraction process. In the British Windscale plant, now Sellafield, another extractant/solvent, dibutylcarbitol (DBC or Butex), was preferred for reprocessing spent nuclear reactor fuels. These early extractants have now been replaced by tributylphosphate [TBP], diluted in an aliphatic hydrocarbon or mixture of such hydrocarbons, following the discovery of Warf [9] in 1945 that TBP separates tetravalent cerium from... 

Commonly used solvents inclnde liqnid carbon dioxide, propane, bntane, light oil, triethy-lamine, acetone, methanol, hexane, dimethyl ether, cmde oil, benzene, isopropyl ether, toluene, tricresyl phosphate, methyl isobutyl ketone, methyl chloride, and bntyl acetate. In addition to remediation uses, solvent extraction has been applied in a variety of indnstries, including food processing, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and mining and minerals processing. 

The development of a large scale manufacturing route to Esomeprazole is described by Federsel and Larsson ° using the titanium catalyst originally described by Kagan and Luukas. Employment of a tartaric acid derived chiral auxiliary, with the addition of a base such as diisopropylethylamine to the reaction mixture, resulted in a full-scale catalytic process capable of delivering multi-ton quantities of product with optical yields well above 90 %, a figure which could be raised to 99.5 % ee by recrystallization from methyl isobutyl ketone. 

An interesting case of interproduct competition is that of the four original lacquer solvents—ethyl alcohol, butyl alcohol, ethyl acetate, and butyl acetate. These were once produced mainly by fermentation processes, but today all are also produced by synthesis from petroleum hydrocarbons. Moreover, in the past 30 years solvents have been developed from petroleum sources which are competing successfully with these materials even though the new compounds are not identical in all properties isopropyl alcohol competes with ethyl alcohol methyl isobutyl carbinol and n-propyl alcohol can replace butyl alcohol methyl ethyl ketone to a large extent supplants ethyl acetate and methyl isobutyl ketone can be substituted for butyl acetate. Thus, petroleum aliphatic chemicals have served both by displacement of source and replacement of end product to supplement and to compete with the fermentation solvents. 

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