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.

Vinyl chloride synthesis via selective oxidative coupling of methyl chloride

“…The direct hydrochlorination of coal-derived acetylene leads to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) using toxic HgCl2 catalysts [7][8][9] . The ethylene-based balanced process (EBP) integrates the direct chlorination/oxychlorination of oil-derived ethylene and pyrolysis of ethylene dichloride (EDC) to produce VCM and has been widely adopted by VCM producers since the mid-1950s, accounting for nearly all capacities worldwide [10][11][12] . Although these industrial processes are suboptimal due to the use of relatively expensive and high carbon footprint feedstocks 12,13 , a new reaction route that can rival the existing ones in terms of cost and energy efficiencies is still underdeveloped.…”

“…The ethylene-based balanced process (EBP) integrates the direct chlorination/oxychlorination of oil-derived ethylene and pyrolysis of ethylene dichloride (EDC) to produce VCM and has been widely adopted by VCM producers since the mid-1950s, accounting for nearly all capacities worldwide [10][11][12] . Although these industrial processes are suboptimal due to the use of relatively expensive and high carbon footprint feedstocks 12,13 , a new reaction route that can rival the existing ones in terms of cost and energy efficiencies is still underdeveloped. Very recently, it has been demonstrated that using natural gas-derived ethane as the feedstock, VCM could be made at a cheaper cost and with less CO2 emissions 12,14 .…”

“…Although these industrial processes are suboptimal due to the use of relatively expensive and high carbon footprint feedstocks 12,13 , a new reaction route that can rival the existing ones in terms of cost and energy efficiencies is still underdeveloped. Very recently, it has been demonstrated that using natural gas-derived ethane as the feedstock, VCM could be made at a cheaper cost and with less CO2 emissions 12,14 . Yet, an economically competitive VCM production process based on the efficient utilization of cheaper and renewable C1 feedstocks that minimize environmental impact still represents a grand challenge.…”

A decarbonized vinyl chloride synthesis via selective oxidative coupling of methyl chloride

“…The direct hydrochlorination of coal-derived acetylene leads to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) using toxic HgCl2 catalysts [4][5][6] . The ethylene-based balanced process (EBP) integrates the direct chlorination/oxychlorination of oil-derived ethylene and pyrolysis of ethylene dichloride (EDC) to produce VCM and has been widely adopted by VCM producers since the mid-1950s, accounting for nearly all capacities worldwide [7][8][9] .…”

“…Although these industrial processes are suboptimal due to the use of relatively expensive and high carbon footprint feedstocks 9,10 , a new reaction route that can rival the existing ones in terms of cost and environmental impact is still underdeveloped.…”