Process for preparing vinyl acetate

Claim 1

In a method of producing vinyl acetate in the liquid phase by feeding ethylene and oxygen or an oxygen-containing gas, at a temperature and pressure sufficient for reaction, into an acetic acid suspension of catalytic salts consisting essentially of suspended in acetic acid, a palladium salt, a copper salt and an acetate selected from the group consisting of alkali metal acetates and alkaline earth metal acetates, to obtain a gaseous reaction product containing vinyl acetate, condensing the normally liquid substances in the gaseous reaction product and recycling the non-condensed gaseous reaction product to the reaction whereby reaction by-products accumulate in the recycle gas, the improvement comprising avoiding the accumulation of by-products in the recycle gas by a process which comprises a. absorbing vinyl acetate and the by-products contained in the recycle non-condensed gaseous reaction products in a solution consisting essentially of the condensed portion of the gaseous reaction product and additional acetic acid sufficient to provide an acetic acid content in said solution of at least 40 percent by weight and directly recycling the non-absorbed gas to the reaction whereby the CO2 content in the recycle gas is less than 20 percent by volume; b. separating from said solution, after the absorption, the gases dissolved therein and recovering ethylene from the separated gases; c. recovering from the solution the vinyl acetate contained therein, and d. recycling the remaining solution to the reaction.