Oxychlorination of hydrocarbons designates a chemical reaction in which oxygen and hydrogen chloride react with a hydrocarbon, in the vapor phase over a supported copper chloride catalyst, to produce a chlorinated hydrocarbon and water. The oxychlorination reaction is unique in allowing the use of hydrogen chloride instead of molecular chlorine as the chlorinating agent in the manufacture of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Therefore, a commercial operation can utilize coproduct or byproduct hydrogen chloride from another process to provide feedstock for an oxychlorination process.Although oxychlorination can be conducted with aliphatic, olefinic, acetylenic, or aromatic hydrocarbons, the reaction of greatest commercial importance is oxychlorination of ethylene to produce ethylene dichloride (EDC or 1,2-dichloroethane). EDC is the precursor for vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), which is polymerized to poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC). PVC polymer is utilized commercially in a wide variety of useful vinyl plastic products and appears in both rigid and flexible (plasticized) forms. These products include plastic pipe, vinyl house siding, flooring and wall covering, window frames, wire insulation, vinyl seat covers, recording discs, and many others.Compared with most other polymers, poly (vinyl chloride) or PVC is less sensitive to increases in the costs of hydrocarbon raw materials because it consists of 57% by weight chlorine. The inherent flame-retardant properties of PVC and its relatively low cost has enabled rigid PVC compounds also to compete effectively with metals for markets in many applications.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.