The Manufacture of Nylon

Beckmann rearrangement of cvc7ohexanone oxime. M.p. 68-70 C, b.p. I39 C/12 mm. On healing it gives polyamides. Used in the manufacture of Nylon[6]. Cyclohexanone oxime is formed from cyclohexane and niirosyl chloride. U.S. production 1978 410 000 tonnes, capryl alcohol See 2-octanol. caiH Uc acid See oclanoic acid. 

About 85% of U.S. adipic acid production is used captively by the producer, almost totally ia the manufacture of nylon-6,6 (194). The remaining 15% is sold ia the merchant market for a large number of appHcations. These have been developed as a result of the large scale availabihty of this synthetic petrochemical commodity. Prices for 1960—1989 for standard resia-grade material have parahed raw material and energy costs (petroleum and natural gas)... 

Adipic acid (qv) has a wide variety of commercial uses besides the manufacture of nylon-6,6, and thus is a common industrial chemical. Many routes to its manufacture have been developed over the years but most processes in commercial use proceed through a two-step oxidation of cyclohexane [110-83-8] or one of its derivatives. In the first step, cyclohexane is oxidized with air at elevated temperatures usually in the presence of a suitable catalyst to produce a mixture of cyclohexanone [108-94-1] and cyclohexanol [108-93-0] commonly abbreviated KA (ketone—alcohol) or KA oil ... 

Its manufacture begins with the formation of dodecanedioic acid produced from the trimeri2ation of butadiene in a process identical to that used in the manufacture of nylon-6,12. The other starting material, 1,12-dodecanediamine, is prepared in a two-step process that first converts the dodecanedioic acid to a diamide, and then continues to dehydrate the diamide to the dinitrile. In the second step, the dinitrile is then hydrogenated to the diamine with hydrogen in the presence of a suitable catalyst. 

AH commercial processes for the manufacture of caprolactam ate based on either toluene or benzene, each of which occurs in refinery BTX-extract streams (see BTX processing). Alkylation of benzene with propylene yields cumene (qv), which is a source of phenol and acetone ca 10% of U.S. phenol is converted to caprolactam. Purified benzene can be hydrogenated over platinum catalyst to cyclohexane nearly aH of the latter is used in the manufacture of nylon-6 and nylon-6,6 chemical intermediates. A block diagram of the five main process routes to caprolactam from basic taw materials, eg, hydrogen (which is usuaHy prepared from natural gas) and sulfur, is given in Eigute 2. 

Rhodium catalyst is used to convert linear alpha-olefins to heptanoic and pelargonic acids (see Carboxylic acids, manufacture). These acids can also be made from the ozonolysis of oleic acid, as done by the Henkel Corp. Emery Group, or by steam cracking methyl ricinoleate, a by-product of the manufacture of nylon-11, an Atochem process in France (4). Neoacids are derived from isobutylene and nonene (4) (see Carboxylic acids, trialkylacetic acids). 

Alkali Fusion. Tha alkaU fusion of castor oil using sodium or potassium hydroxide in the presence of catalysts to spHt the ricinoleate molecule, results in two different products depending on reaction conditions (37,38). At lower (180—200°C) reaction temperatures using one mole of alkah, methylhexyl ketone and 10-hydroxydecanoic acid are prepared. The 10-hydroxydecanoic acid is formed in good yield when either castor oil or methyl ricinoleate [141-24-2] is fused in the presence of a high boiling unhindered primary or secondary alcohol such as 1- or 2-octanol. An increase to two moles of alkali/mole ricinoleate and a temperature of 250—275°C produces capryl alcohol [123-96-6] CgH gO, and sebacic acid [111-20-6] C QH gO, (39—41). Sebacic acid is used in the manufacture of nylon-6,10. 

Castor is the only renewable vegetable oil resource (see Chemurgy) having a hydroxyl group stmcture and functionaHty that leads to diverse oleochemicals. In 1988, approximately 35,000 t/yr of castor oil were used to prepare raw materials for the manufacture of nylon-11. It is estimated that 40,000—45,000 t of... 

Caprolactam is preferred to w-aminocaproic acid for the manufacture of nylon 6 because it is easier to make and to purify. Over the years many routes for the manufacture of caprolactam itself have been developed and major commercial routes are summarised in Figure 18.6. Of these routes the bulk of manufacture is via cyclohexanone and cyclohexanone oxime. 

The major aromatics (organics having at least one ring structure with six carbon atoms) manufactured include benzene, toluene, xylene, and naphthalene. Other aromatics manufactured include phenol, chlorobenzene, styrene, phthalic and maleic anhydride, nitrobenzene, and aniline. Benzene is generally recovered from cracker streams at petrochemical plants and is used for the manufacture of phenol, styrene, aniline, nitrobenzene, sulfonated detergents, pesticides such as hexachlorobenzene, cyclohexane (an important intermediate in synthetic fiber manufacture), and caprolactam, used in the manufacture of nylon. Benzene is also used as a general purpose solvent. 

Adiponitrile, a starting material used in the manufacture of nylon, can be prepared in three steps from 1,3-butadiene. How would you carry out this synthesis ... 

Ring-opening reactions may also be used in order to make polymers by the step polymerisation mechanism. One commercially important example of this is the manufacture of nylon 6, which uses caprolactam as the starting material and proceeds via the ring-opening reaction shown in Reaction 2.15. 

Some companies are successfully integrating chemo- and biocatalytic transformations in multi-step syntheses. An elegant example is the Lonza nicotinamide process mentioned earlier (.see Fig. 2.34). The raw material, 2-methylpentane-1,5-diamine, is produced by hydrogenation of 2-methylglutaronitrile, a byproduct of the manufacture of nylon-6,6 intermediates by hydrocyanation of butadiene. The process involves a zeolite-catalysed cyciization in the vapour phase, followed by palladium-catalysed dehydrogenation, vapour-pha.se ammoxidation with NH3/O2 over an oxide catalyst, and, finally, enzymatic hydrolysis of a nitrile to an amide. 

Hydroxylamine (hyam) is used in the production of caprolactam, a key raw material for the manufacture of Nylon-6. Several technologies exist for the production of caprolactam with a key difference being the amount of byproduct ammonium sulfate, a low cost fertilizer, formed. The hyam used in the process is produced by... 

Today, the scientific community can identify tiny trace amounts of chemicals in the environment. A quarter-century after Wallace Carothers introduced science-based industrial research to the United States, Clair Patterson adapted techniques developed for determining the age of the Earth to identify microtraces of global pollutants. Today scientists can analyze industrial contaminants in the parts per billion in 1991 when a university scientist discovered in the atmosphere a harmful, low-level contaminant produced by the manufacture of nylon, industry volunteered within weeks to change production methods. 

When the reactants involved in a step growth polymerization process are mutually immiscible, we can employ an interfacial polymerization method. Two solutions, each containing one of the monomers, are layered one on top of the other. This creates a phase boundary that forms wth the least dense liquid on top. The different monomers can then meet and polymerize at the interface. A commonly demonstrated example of this is the manufacture of nylon 610 by the interfacial reaction between an aqueous solution of hexamethylenediamine with sebacoyl chloride dissolved in carbon tetrachloride. Because the reaction only occurs at the interface, it is possible to pull the products from this interface to isolate the final product. 

Cyclohexanone is thus converted to cyclohexanone oxime, an intermediate in the manufacture of Nylon-6. The catalyst is titanium silicalite-2. Commercialized by Enichem who built a 12,000 ton/year plant in Porta Marghera in 1994. 

Monsanto (1) A process for making adiponitrile, an intermediate in the manufacture of Nylon 66, by the electrolytic hydrodimerization (EHD) of acrylonitrile ... 

Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is a colorless, rapidly acting, highly poisonous gas or liquid that has an odor of bitter almonds. Most HCN is used as an intermediate at the site of production. Major uses include the manufacture of nylons, plastics, and fumigants. Exposures to HCN may occur in industrial situations as well as from cigarette smoke, combustion products, and naturally occurring cyanide compounds in foods. Sodium nitroprusside (Na2[Fe(CN)5 N0]-2H20), which has been used as an antihypertensive in humans, breaks down into nonionized HCN. 

Over the past decade, the semiconductor manufacturing industry has used hydroxylamine solutions in cleaning formulations to strip process residues from integrated circuit devices. Hydroxylamine and its derivatives are also used in the manufacture of nylon, inks, paints, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and photographic developers. 

Phenol is both a man-made chemical and produced naturally. It is found in nature in some foods and in human and animal wastes and decomposing organic material. The largest single use of phenol is as an intermediate in the production of phenolic resins. However, it is also used in the production of caprolactam (which is used in the manufacture of nylon 6 and other synthetic fibers) and bisphenol A (which is used in the manufacture of epoxy and other resins). Phenol is also used as a slimicide (a chemical toxic to bacteria and fungi characteristic of aqueous slimes), as a disinfectant, and in medicinal preparations such as over-the-counter treatments for sore throats. Phenol ranks in the top 50 in production volumes for chemicals produced in the United States. Chapters 3 and 4 contain more information. 

The development of nylon by DuPont in 1938 generated the initial big commercial interest in cyclohexane as they settled on its use as their preferred raw material. In the period right after World War II, the manufacture of nylon grew for a while at 100% annually, quickly overwhelming the availability of cyclohexane naturally available in crude oil. The typical crude oil processed in U.S. refineries at the time had less than 1% content of cyclohexane. Ironically, since cyclohexane leaves the crude oil distillation operation in the naphtha, it was usually fed to a cat reformer, where it was converted to henzene. As it turned out, with so many other precursors also being converted to benzene in the cat reformer, benzene became a good source for cyclohexane manufacture. 

Hexanedioic acid is used in the manufacture of nylon-6, 6. Esters of benzoic acid are used in perfumery. Sodium benzoate is used as a food preservative. Higher fatty acids are used for the manufacture of soaps and detergents. 

One of the best known explosion disasters took place in Flixborough, England, in 1974. Nypro Limited manufactured 70,000 tons/year of caprolactam as intermediate for the manufacturing of nylon. This is done by air oxidation of cyclohexane to cyclo-hexanol, with the help of a number of catalysts in the reactors. At that time, cracks developed in the reactor combined with pipe rupture, which released 30 tons of cyclohexane in a cloud. It was ignited by an unknown source and exploded, which resulted in 28 deaths and 36 injured, and the fire burned for 10 days. This disaster was also devastating to the future of the company. 

Reduced and partially reduced azepines are more common. Perhydroazepine (hexamethylenimine) was first prepared in 1905 and chemically it behaves as a typical secondary amine (B-67MI51600). Its 2-oxo derivative (caprolactam) is a bulk chemical and is of great industrial importance as an intermediate in the manufacture of nylon. Many oxo and dioxo derivatives of azepines and benzazepines have been prepared, often with difficulty, in a mainly fruitless search for aromatic properties in these azatropone and benz-azatropone systems (see Section 5.16.3.1.2). 

Caprolactam or (hexahydroazepin-2-one) is, without doubt, the most important azepine derivative. This seven-membered lactam is produced in vast quantities as an intermediate for the manufacture of nylon 6 (B-75MI51601, B-70MI51601). Polymerization, which is carried out at high temperatures with water as the initiator or at low temperatures with a strong base (e.g. NaH), proceeds by attack at the caprolactam carbonyl by the amino function of the open-chain monomer, e -aminohexanoic acid. 

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