Reactive Distillation for Vinyl Ether Synthesis

75396-Reactive distillation is a new technology for the chemical and petroleum industries, which can improve the yield of reactions, enhance production of desired products, lower energy consumption, and reduce capital costs. This project will develop a novel reactive distillation technology to improve productivity and reduce costs for an important set of chemical intermediates, vinyl ethers. The technology not only will reduce the costs of such chemicals such as microbial biocides, but also will open new markets for low cost chemicals, such as polyvinyl alcohols for the electronics industry. The new methodology also should be applicable to other reactive distillation systems. Phase I will develop new catalysts specifically designed for reactive distillation and generate laboratory data to further improve the process and to demonstrate feasibility. Process simulations and economic studies will be used to show the competitive advantage of the new reactive distillation technology. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The new reactive distillation technology should result in immediate benefits in the manufacture of an important set of chemical intermediates, vinyl ethers. The total manufacturing cost of this new technology is forecasted to be is as low as the raw materials cost alone for conventional manufacturing technology. Reactive distillation thus would be shown to be a viable technology for the production of other chemical products.