Process of continuously producing vinylidene chloride

Claim 1

IN THE PROCESS OF CONTINUOUSLY PRODUCING VINYLIDENE CHLORIDE BY REACTION OF A MIXTURE OF 1,1,2-TRICHLORO ETHANE AND AN AQUEOUS SOLUTION OF SODIUM HYDROXIDE IN A VERTICAL REACTION ZONE, THE IMPROVEMENTS WHICH CONSIST IN (A) USING AS A STARTING MATERIAL AN EMULSIFIED AND PARTIALLY PRE-REACTED MIXTURE OF 1,1,2-TRICHLOROETHANE IN AN AQUEOUS SOLUTION OF SODIUM HYDROXIDE, PREPARED AT A TEMPERATURE OF AT LEAST 50*C., AS STARTING MATERIAL, (B) INTRODUCING SAID EMULSIFIED AND PARTIALLY PREREACTED MIXTURE INTO THE LOWER PART OF SAID REACTION ZONE AND PASSING IT IN UPWARD FLOW THERETHROUGH, SAID REACTION ZONE BEING OF SUFFICIENT LENGTH TO EFFECT SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETE CONVERSION OF TRICHLORO ETHANE INTO VINYLIDENE CHLORIDE, (C) MAINTAINING THE HEAT OF THE REACTION ZONE AT A TEMPERATURE IN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 68*C. TO ABOUT 90*C., AND (D) WITHDRAWING THE VAPORS OF VINYLIDENE CHLORIDE IN ESSENTIALLY QUANTITATIVE YIELDS WITH THE SPENT SODIUM HYDROXIDE FROM THE UPPER PART OF SAID REACTION ZONE.