Effect of Solid Bases Catalyst on Conversion of Acrylonitrile into Acrylic Acid by Hydrothermal Reaction

Abstract

This study aims at the shortcomings of the current industrial application of acrylonitrile wastewater treatment, using alkali-catalyzed hydrothermal technology to convert acrylonitrile into acrylic acid for achieving resource utilization. In this study, alkali metal, alkaline earth metal hydroxide and composite solid base were used as catalysts to investigate catalytic effects of these solid based on the hydrothermal reaction. The results show when using the alkali and alkaline-earth metal hydroxides as catalysts, the best effect of treatment was KOH and the highest yield of acrylic acid reached 56.60%. It was also found that, among the three kinds of solid base catalysts (Ca-O-Mg, K-O-Al, K-O-Si) adopted with the same mass and various loading capacity, K-O-Si (15%) was the most effective catalyst for the conversion of acrylonitrile, and the highest yield of acrylic acid reached 57.78%. This process provides an environmentally friendly method toward the synthesis of useful acrylic acid from acrylonitrile within a very short time.

Sustainable Functionalization of PAN to Improve Tinctorial Capacity

“…Yue et al [34] studied the effect of alkalis upon the nitrile group in acrylonitrile and concluded that alkaline compounds act as catalysts for the conversion of acrylonitrile into acrylic acid by hydrothermal reaction (300 • C) and that potassium hydroxide, KOH is the most effective alkaline agent. Studies on the interaction between PAN and iodine from alcoholic solutions of I 2 /KI put in evidence polyacrylonitrile doping, which is favored by temperature decrease [26][27][28][29]36].…”

“…In order to avoid doping and promote PAN functionalization, we studied PAN treatment with I 2 /KI solution in the presence of potassium hydroxide, KOH. It is known that KOH can act as a catalyst in chemical reactions taking place at high temperature [34].…”