PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF UNSATURATED CARBOXYLIC ACIDS AND/OR ESTERS

摘要

Unsaturated carboxylic acids and/or esters thereof are produced by reacting an aldehyde comprising formaldehyde or acetaldehyde with either a saturated carboxylic acid ester or anhydride in the vapor phase in the presence as catalyst of a high silica crystalline aluminosilicate zeolite in which the cation is H+ and/or a transition metal and/or a rare earth metal. In a modification of the process instead of formaldehyde there is used methanol/molecular oxygen and in the catalyst there is included either an oxidative or an oxidative/dehydrogenative component.