Production of vinyl acetate from ethylene

Claim 1

THE PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF VINYL ACETATE FROM ETHYLENE THAT COMPRISES CONTACTING ETHYLENE AND OXYGEN AT A TEMPERATURE BETWEEN ABOUT 30* AND 300* C. AND A PRESSURE BETWEEN ABOUT 1 AND ABOUT 100 ATMOSPHERES WITH A SUBSTANTIALLY ANHYDROUS ORGANIC REACTION MEDIUM COMPRISING ACETIC ACID AND CONTAINING: (1) FROM ABOUT 0.001 TO ABOUT 5.0 WEIGHT PERCENT PALLADIUM; (2) FROM ABOUT 0.05 TO ABOUT 5.0 WEIGHT PERCENT (AS HALOGEN) OF A HALOGEN COMPOUND SOLUBLE IN SAID REACTION MEDIUM AND SELECTED FROM THE CLASS CONSISTING OF CHLORINE AND BROMINE CONTAINING COMPOUNDS; AND (3) FROM ABOUT 0.1 TO ABOUT 10.0 WEIGHT PERCENT OF AN ALKALI METAL ACETATE; WITHDRAWING A CRUDE REACTION PRODUCT CONTAINING DESIRED PRODUCTS AND BY-PRODUCTS COMPRISING POLYVINYL ACETATE, ETHYLIDENE DIACETATE AND ETHYLENE GLYCOL DIACETATE, REDUCING SAID PRESSURE OF SAID CRUDE PRODUCT TO REMOVE UNREACTED ETHYLENE THEREFROM AND DISTILLING THELIQUID RESIDUE TO RECOVER ACETALDEHYDE AND VINYL ACETATE AS DESIRED PRODUCTS AND TO REMOVE WATER FOM THE REACTION MEDIUM AND, CONTINUING SAID CONTACTING OF ETHYLENE AND OXYGEN WHILE RECYCLING SAID REACTION MEDIUM CONTAINING SAID UNDESIRED BY-PRODUCTS TO CONTACT WITH SAID ETHYLENE AND OXYGEN TO MINIMIZE THE NET YIELD OF SAID BY-PRODUCT FROM SAID PROCESS.