Process and apparatus for preparing vinyl acetate monomer

US8765995B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Wacker Chemie AG · DE

Inventors

• Willibald Dafinger · Zweibrücken, DE
• Peter Holl · Tübingen, DE
• Gunther Rudolf · Horb am Neckar, DE
• Martin Schönleben · Simbach, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 16, 2010
• Grant date: Jul 1, 2014
• Expiry date: Apr 5, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC Y): Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
• CPC primary: Y02P20/582
• WIPO field: Organic fine chemistry
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

The invention provides a process for preparing vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) by reacting ethylene with acetic acid and oxygen in a tube bundle reactor in a heterogeneously catalysed, continuous gas phase process, characterized in that a high-performance catalyst with a space-time yield of more than 700 g of VAM/l of catalyst×hour is used for catalysis, and in that the tube bundle reactor comprises tubes with a ratio of inner surface area to volume of ≧130 m−1.