Published December 1991
Daicel Chemical has developed technology for producing dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from methanol by oxidative carbonylation. The company has announced a 6,000 t/yr DMC plant along with a 5,000 t/yr isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) plant at its Aboshi complex, scheduled for start-up by mid-1991. The latter unit, which uses DMC as an intermediate, is a joint venture between H�ls and Daicel Chemical.
This review presents a conceptual process design and economic evaluation for the production of IPDI by a nonphosgenation process using DMC technology developed by Daicel Chemical. Also presented are the economics for IPDI produced by the conventional phosgenation process updated from PEP Report 1 D. Results of our economic comparison indicate that the nonphosgenation process is about 29% more expensive in total fixed capital than the conventional process. Although the raw material costs for the nonphosgenation process are lower than for the conventional process, the high costs of utilities and capital related fixed costs more than offset the savings.
