| 摘要 |
A method of producing acrylonitrile by feeding a liquid ethylene cyanohydrin to a dehydration zone, heating to a temperature within the range, 170 DEG to 210 DEG C., said zone containing sodium formate as a dehydration catalyst, removing acrylonitrile and water from said zone and recovering the acrylonitrile, is characterized by the fact that an inert solid material in particulate form and/or ethylene glycol is or are included in the reaction zone together with the sodium formate catalyst, whereby the yield of acrylonitrile is increased and the life of the sodium formate catalyst is prolonged. Preferred inert solid materials are metallic aluminium, magnesium sulphate, sodium sulphate and aluminium sulphate. Others mentioned are porcelain, chinaware, glass, sand, silicon carbide, stainless steel, kaolin, bentonite, tantalum, tungsten carbide, aluminium alloys such as 3S aluminium, high nickel alloys and hard polytetrafluoroethylene, basic aluminium acetate, aluminium hydroxide, mono-sodium phosphate, sodium chloride and magnesium chloride. The particles may range in size from semi-colloidal such as aluminium hydroxide particles up to particles as large as 1/4 inch. The amount of solid inert material may be from 1 per cent to 20 per cent by weight of the sodium formate. The amount of ethylene glycol may be from 1/10 to 3/4 of the weight of the sodium formate. The solids, if water-soluble, may be dissolved in the water-formate-glycol solution or slurry, and then be precipitated by evaporation of the water. Examples illustrate the use of the inert diluents, with and without ethylene glycol, using crude and distilled ethylene cyanohydrin as starting material. Specification 633,001 is referred to. |
