Of ethylbenzene

If the byproduct reaction is reversible and inerts are present, then changing the concentration of inerts if there is a change in the number of moles should be considered, as discussed above. Whether or not there is a change in the number of moles, recycling byproducts can suppress their formation if the bj iroduct-forming reaction is reversible. An example is in the production of ethylbenzene from benzene and ethylene ... 

The Fittig Reaction is employed in the following preparation of ethylbenzene. 

The reaction is illustrated by the preparation of ethylbenzene from acetophenone the resulting hydrocarbon is quite pure and free from unsaturated compounds ... 

Separate the upper hydrocarbon layer from the distillate and extract the aqueous layer twice with 20 ml. portions of ether dry the combined upper layer and ethereal extracts with anhydrous magnesium sulphate, remove the ether on a water bath, and distil the residue from a 50 ml. Claisen flask. Collect the ethylbenzene at 135-136° the yield is 20 g. By extracting the s3Tupy liquid in the reaction flask with three 30 ml. portions of ether, a further 2 g. of ethylbenzene, b.p. 136°, may be obtained. Note,... 

Ethylbenzene. Prepare a suspension of phenyl-sodium from 23 g. of sodium wire, 200 ml. of light petroleum (b.p. 40-60°) and 56 3 g. (50 9 ml.) of chlorobenzene as described above for p-Toluic acid. Add 43 -5 g. (30 ml.) of ethyl bromide during 30-45 minutes at 30° and stir the mixture for a further hour. Add water slowly to decompose the excess of sodium and work up the product as detailed for n-Butylbenzene. The yield of ethylbenzene, b.p. 135-136°, is 23 g. 

Styrene (or vuiylbenzene) is prepared technicall by the cracking dehydre enation of ethylbenzene ... 

Practically all of the 1 3 X 10 ° lb of ethylbenzene produced annually m the United States IS converted to styrene... 

Alkenyl halides such as vinyl chloride (H2C=CHC1) do not form carbocations on treatment with aluminum chloride and so cannot be used m Friedel-Crafts reactions Thus the industrial preparation of styrene from benzene and ethylene does not involve vinyl chloride but proceeds by way of ethylbenzene... 

Xylene Isomeri tion. The objective of C-8-aromatics processing is the conversion of the usual four-component feedstream (ethylbenzene and the three xylenes) into an isomerically pure xylene. Although the bulk of current demand is for xylene isomer for polyester fiber manufacture, significant markets for the other isomers exist. The primary problem is separation of the 8—40% ethylbenzene that is present in the usual feedstocks, a task that is compHcated by the closeness of the boiling points of ethylbenzene and -xylene. In addition, the equiUbrium concentrations of the xylenes present in the isomer separation train raffinate have to be reestabUshed to maximize the yield of the desired isomer. 

Ethjlben ne Synthesis. The synthesis of ethylbenzene for styrene production is another process in which ZSM-5 catalysts are employed. Although some ethylbenzene is obtained direcdy from petroleum, about 90% is synthetic. In earlier processes, benzene was alkylated with high purity ethylene in liquid-phase slurry reactors with promoted AlCl catalysts or the vapor-phase reaction of benzene with a dilute ethylene-containing feedstock with a BF catalyst supported on alumina. Both of these catalysts are corrosive and their handling presents problems. 

Most of the industrially important alkyl aromatics used for petrochemical intermediates are produced by alkylating benzene [71-43-2] with monoolefins. The most important monoolefins for the production of ethylbenzene, cumene, and detergent alkylate are ethylene, propylene, and olefins with 10—18 carbons, respectively. This section focuses primarily on these alkylation technologies. 

The second new zeoHte-basedhquid-phase process was developed by Chemical Research licensing Company (CR L). The process is based on the concept of catalytic distillation, ie, reaction and separation in the same vessel. The concept has been appHed commercially for the production of MTBE (48—51) but has not yet been appHed commercially for the production of ethylbenzene. 

AlCl and Hydrogen Chloride Catalyst. Historically, AIQ processes have been used more extensively for the production of ethylbenzene than for the production of cumene. In 1976, Monsanto developed an improved cumene process that uses an AIQ. catalyst, and by the mid-1980s, the technology had been successfully commercialized. The overall yields of cumene for this process can be as high as 99 wt % based on benzene and 98 wt % based on propylene (60). 

Catalysts. Nearly aU. of the industrially significant aromatic alkylation processes of the past have been carried out in the Hquid phase with unsupported acid catalysts. For example, AlCl HF have been used commercially for at least one of the benzene alkylation processes to produce ethylbenzene (104), cumene (105), and detergent alkylates (80). Exceptions to this historical trend have been the use of a supported boron trifluoride for the production of ethylbenzene and of a soHd phosphoric acid (SPA) catalyst for the production of cumene (59,106). 

Two catalysts have emerged as commercially viable. The Mobil—Badger ethylbenzene process, which has been in commercial use since 1980, employs a ZeoHte catalyst and operates in the gas phase. A Hquid-phase ethylbenzene process joindy Hcensed by Lummus and UOP uses a Y-type ZeoHte catalyst developed by Unocal. This Hquid-phase process was commercialized in 1990. The same Y-type ZeoHte catalyst used for the production of ethylbenzene is being offered for the production of cumene but has not yet been commercialized. 

Ethylbenzene Hydroperoxide Process. Figure 4 shows the process flow sheet for production of propylene oxide and styrene via the use of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide (EBHP). Liquid-phase oxidation of ethylbenzene with air or oxygen occurs at 206—275 kPa (30—40 psia) and 140—150°C, and 2—2.5 h are required for a 10—15% conversion to the hydroperoxide. Recycle of an inert gas, such as nitrogen, is used to control reactor temperature. Impurities ia the ethylbenzene, such as water, are controlled to minimize decomposition of the hydroperoxide product and are sometimes added to enhance product formation. Selectivity to by-products include 8—10% acetophenone, 5—7% 1-phenylethanol, and <1% organic acids. EBHP is concentrated to 30—35% by distillation. The overhead ethylbenzene is recycled back to the oxidation reactor (170—172). 

The benzene feedstock contains nonaromatics, ranging from 50 to 2000 ppm, depending on the source of supply. The nonaromatics do not directly contaminate the product because their boiling points are typically 40—60°C lower than that of ethylbenzene. However, part of these nonaromatics... 

Production of ethylbenzene from butadiene has been iavestigated by many researchers. It consists of two steps cyclodimerization of 1,3-butadiene to 4-vinylcyclohexene and dehydrogenation of the vinylcyclohexene to ethylbenzene. 

Styrene manufacture by dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene is simple ia concept and has the virtue of beiag a siagle-product technology, an important consideration for a product of such enormous volume. This route is used for nearly 90% of the worldwide styrene production. The rest is obtained from the coproduction of propylene oxide (PO) and styrene (SM). The PO—SM route is complex and capital-iatensive ia comparison to dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene, but it stiU can be very attractive. However, its use is limited by the mismatch between the demands for styrene and propylene oxides (qv). 

Fig. 4. Manufacture of styrene by adiabatic dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene A, steam superheater B, reactor section C, feed—effluent exchanger D,...

Figure 5 illustrates a typical distillation train in a styrene plant. Benzene and toluene by-products are recovered in the overhead of the benzene—toluene column. The bottoms from the benzene—toluene column are distilled in the ethylbenzene recycle column, where the separation of ethylbenzene and styrene is effected. The ethylbenzene, containing up to 3% styrene, is taken overhead and recycled to the dehydrogenation section. The bottoms, which contain styrene, by-products heavier than styrene, polymers, inhibitor, and up to 1000 ppm ethylbenzene, are pumped to the styrene finishing column. The overhead product from this column is purified styrene. The bottoms are further processed in a residue-finishing system to recover additional styrene from the residue, which consists of heavy by-products, polymers, and inhibitor. The residue is used as fuel. The residue-finishing system can be a flash evaporator or a small distillation column. This distillation sequence is used in the Fina-Badger process and the Dow process. 

PO—SM Coproduction. The copioduction of propylene oxide and styrene (40—49) includes three reaction steps (/) oxidation of ethylbenzene to ethylbenzene hydroperoxide, (2) epoxidation of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide with propylene to form a-phenylethanol and propylene oxide, and (3) dehydration of a-phenylethanol to styrene. 

The oxidation step is similar to the oxidation of cumene to cumene hydroperoxide that was developed earlier and is widely used in the production of phenol and acetone. It is carried out with air bubbling through the Hquid reaction mixture in a series of reactors with decreasing temperatures from 150 to 130°C, approximately. The epoxidation of ethylbenzene hydroperoxide to a-phenylethanol and propylene oxide is the key development in the process. 

Other Technologies. As important as dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene is in the production of styrene, it suffers from two theoretical disadvantages it is endothermic and is limited by thermodynamic equiHbrium. The endothermicity requites heat input at high temperature, which is difficult. The thermodynamic limitation necessitates the separation of the unreacted ethylbenzene from styrene, which are close-boiling compounds. The obvious solution is to effect the reaction oxidatively ... 

A similar but somewhat less ambitious approach is to carry out dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene and oxidation of the hydrogen product alternately in separate reactors containing different catalysts ... 

A three-step process involving the oxidation of acetophenone, hydrogenation of the ketone to a-phenylethanol, and dehydration of the alcohol to styrene was practiced commercially by Union Carbide (59) until the early 1960s. Other technologies considered during the infancy of the styrene industry include side-chain chlorination of ethylbenzene followed by dehydrochlotination or followed by hydrolysis and dehydration. 

The dehydrogenation of the mixture of m- and -ethyltoluenes is similar to that of ethylbenzene, but more dilution steam is required to prevent rapid coking on the catalyst. The recovery and purification of vinyltoluene monomer is considerably more difficult than for styrene owing to the high boiling point and high rate of thermal polymerization of the former and the complexity of the reactor effluent, which contains a large number of by-products. Pressures as low as 2.7 kPa (20 mm Hg) are used to keep distillation temperatures low even in the presence of polymerization inhibitor. The finished vinyltoluene monomer typically has an assay of 99.6%. 

Future Methods. A by-product stream containing 60—80% PEA can be obtained from the catalytic air oxidation of ethylbenzene [100-41-4] (100). Perfumery-grade material can be isolated from this stream by complexing the PEA with a metal haUde (such as CaCl2), separation of the adduct, and thermal decomposition followed by distillation. 

To this point the presence of ethylbenzene in the mixed xylenes has been ignored. The amount can vary widely, but normally about 15% is present. The isomerization process must remove the ethylbenzene in some way to ensure that it does not build up in the isomerization loop of Figure 8. The ethylbenzene may be selectively cracked (40) or isomerized to xylenes (41) using a platinum catalyst. In rare cases the ethylbenzene is recovered in high purity by superfractionation. 

Another appHcation for this type catalyst is ia the purification of styrene. Trace amounts (200—300 ppmw) of phenylacetylene can inhibit styrene polymerization and caimot easily be removed from styrene produced by dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene using the high activity catalysts introduced in the 1980s. Treatment of styrene with hydrogen over an inhibited supported palladium catalyst in a small post reactor lowers phenylacetylene concentrations to a tolerable level of <50 ppmw without significant loss of styrene. 

Another example of catalytic isomerization is the Mobil Vapor-Phase Isomerization process, in which -xylene is separated from an equiHbrium mixture of Cg aromatics obtained by isomerization of mixed xylenes and ethylbenzene. To keep xylene losses low, this process uses a ZSM-5-supported noble metal catalyst over which the rate of transalkylation of ethylbenzene is two orders of magnitude larger than that of xylene disproportionation (12). 

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