Published October 1978
A Halcon patent describes a process for producing ethylidene diacetate from methyl acetate. The present screening study integrates the above step with the decomposition of ethylidene diacetate to vinyl acetate and the esterification with methanol to methylacetate, so that the overall process constitutes a route for manufacturing vinyl acetate essentially from carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
The evaluation shows that although the raw materials costs for such a route are low, the fixed capital requirements are very high. The product value (net production cost plus 25% ROI) of vinyl acetate made by this route is estimated to be higher than that for vinyl acetate made by the conventional process which starts with ethylene. Nevertheless, the difference is not substantial for a large plant. Further exploration and development of the carbonylation route would therefore appear to be worthwhile.
