Ethane‐Based Catalytic Process for Vinyl Chloride Manufacture

Abstract

The use of ethane as ap latform molecule for the manufacture of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is al ongstanding challenge,whichwould allowtoreduce the raw material costs and CO 2 emissions to produce this plastic.Herein, we discover that rare earth oxychlorides catalyzeinaselective (up to 90 %) and stable (> 50 ho ns tream) manner the reaction of ethane and molecular chlorine into 1,2-dichloroethane,w hich, upon established cracking, will translate into an order of magnitude higher vinyl chloride productivity compared to ethane oxychlorination technologies.Inaddition, representative europium oxychloride was supported on suitable carriers and was demonstrated to be selective (up to 90 %) and stable (> 40 h on stream) in extrudate form. These findings bring the ethanebased production of PVC one step closer to implementation.

Economic and Environmental Competitiveness of Ethane-Based Technologies for Vinyl Chloride Synthesis

“…Catalyst design strategies dispersing the active metal phase on suitable carriers or modifying the active phase with metal promoters hold promise to maximize performance. , Still, attaining full product yield might not be necessary to achieve environmental competitiveness with the BAU. Thus, we calculated the product selectivity required for both the 2- and 1-step processes to environmentally outperform the BAU.…”

“…The 2-step ethane route (Figure 2b) is modeled based on the experimental data reported by Zichittella et al 15 Ethane After the third distillation column (C3), HCl is sent to A1, while the bottom product enters the fourth distillation column (C4), where VCM is retrieved as the top product and a mixture of EDC and TCE is sent to the fifth and final column (C5), where TCE is obtained as the bottom product, and the distillate, mainly containing EDC, is recycled back to R2 after a small purge. The ideal version of the 2-step ethane route follows the same steps as its real counterpart; however, C2, C5, and C6 are omitted owing to the chlorination reactor being 100% selective toward EDC production.…”

“…To overcome these hurdles, we recently demonstrated a promising strategy based on reacting ethane with Cl 2 at mild temperatures (≥250 °C) and atmospheric pressure in the absence of O 2 . Specifically, we reported a chlorination process selectively converting ethane into 1,2-dichloroethane (C 2 H 4 Cl 2 , EDC, up to 90%) over a europium-based catalyst.…”

“Functional upcycling” of polymer waste towards the design of new materials

“…Annually, nearly 50 Mt of PVC is produced at an annual increasing rate of ∼4%. 221–224 Most manufactured PVC is widely applied in building and construction, electrical wire insulation, and disposable medical devices, with minor applications in packaging, clothing, leisure, sports, and other industries. 1,225–227 Globally, most PVC waste is found in stores and landfills, and till 2008, only 0.2 Mt of PVC was recycled using mechanical and chemical pathways.…”

What happens when a Pb–Sn coating deposited on low carbon steel is exposed in an HCl‐polluted wet environment? Development of a corrosion mechanism

“…[11] As it is used in many domains, the Pb-Sn alloy can be exposed to different environments, potentially corrosive. In this study, we focus on a humid and HCl-polluted environment, which is a common environment in electronic, [12,13] in the manufacture of PVC [14] or many other fields including metal and mineral processing, [15] or waste treatments. [16,17] Chlorides in the form of hydrogen chloride facilitate the formation of thin droplets of hydrochloric acid due to the air acid condensed moisture.…”