Production of vinyl chloride

Claim 2

A process for producing vinyl chloride comprising: a. contacting a hydrocarbon selected from the group consisting of ethane, ethylene and mixtures thereof and a member selected from the group consisting of chlorine, hydrogen chloride and mixtures thereof with a melt containing a multivalent metal chloride in both its higher and lower valence state and the oxychloride of the metal to produce a chlorinated hydrocarbon-containing effluent including vinyl chloride, ethyl chloride, dichloroethane and other chlorinated hydrocarbons selected from the group consisting of dichloroethylenes, tetrachloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethane, trichloroethylene and mixtures thereof: b. recovering vinyl chloride, ethyl chloride, dichloroethane and the other chlorinated hydrocarbons from the chlorinated hydrocarbon-containing effluent; c. contacting recovered dichloroethnae with a melt containing a multivalent metal chloride in both its higher and lower valence state to produce a reaction effluent containing vinyl chloride; d. burning at least a portion of the recovered said other chlorinated hydrocarbons from step (b) to produce a combustion effluent containing a member selected from the group consisting of chlorine, hydrogen chloride and mixtures thereof and in addition carbon oxides, nitrogen and water vapor; e. contacting the combustion effluent and a molecular oxygen-containing gas with melt from step (c), resulting in absorption of the member from the combustion effluent by addition of chlorine to the melt and the production of the metal oxychloride; and f. employing at least a portion of the melt from step (e) in step (a).

Claim 3

A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING VINYL CHLORIDE COMPRISING: A. CONTACTING A HYDROCARBON SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ETHANE, ETHYLENE AND MIXTURES THEREOF AND A MEMBER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF CHLORINE, HYDROGEN CHLORIDE AND MIXTURES THEREOF WITH A MELT CONTAINING A MULTIVALENT METAL CHLORIDE IN BOTH ITS HIGHER AND LOWER VALENCE STATE AND THE OXYCHLORIDE OF THE METAL TO PRODUCE A CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON-CONTAINING EFFLUENT INCLUDING VINYL CHLORIDE, ETHYL CHLORIDE, DICHLOROETHANE AND OTHER CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF DICHLOROETHYLENES, TETRACHLOROETHANE, TETRACHLOROETHYLENE, TRICHLOROETHANE, TRICHLOROETHYLENE AND MIXTURES THEREOF: 4 B. RECOVERING VINYL CHLORIDE, ETHYL CHLORIDE, DICHLOROETHANE AND THE OTHER CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS FROM THE CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON-CONTAINING EFFLUENT; C. CONTACTING RECOVERED DICHLORETHNAE WITH A MELT CONTAINING A MULTIVALENT METAL CHLORIDE IN BOTH ITS HIGHER AND LOWER VALENCE STATE TO PRODUCE A REACTION EFFLUENT CONTAINING VINYL CHLORIDE; D. BURNING ATLEAST A PORTION OF THE RECOVERED SAID OTHER CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS FROM STEP (B) TO PRODUCE A COMBUSTION EFFLUENT CONTAINING A MEMBER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF CHLORINE,HYDROGEN CHLORIDE AND MIXTURES THEREOF AND IN ADDITION CARBON XOIDES, NITROGEN AND WATER VAPOR; C. CONTACTING THE COMBUSTION EFFLUENT AND A MOLECULAR OXYGEN-CONTAINING GAS WITH MELT FROM STEP (C), RESULTING IN ABSORPTION OF THE MEMBER FROM THE COMBUSTION EFFLUENT BY ADDITION OF CHLORINE TO THE MELT AND THE PRODUCTION OF THE METAL OXYCHLORIDE; AND F. EMPLOYING AT LEAST A PORTION OF THE MELT FROM STEP (E) IN STEP (A).

Claim 4

A PROCESS FOR PRODUCING VINYL CHLORIDE COMPRISING: A. CONTACTING A HYDROCARBON SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF ETHANE, ETHYLENE AND MIXTURES THEREOF AND A MEMBER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF CHLORINE, HYDROGEN CHLORIDE AND MIXTURES THEREOF WITH A MELT CONTAINING A MULTIVALENT METAL CHLORIDE IN BOTH ITS HIGHER AND LOWER VALENCE STATE AND THE OXYCHLORIDE OF THE METAL TO PRODUCE A CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON-CONTAINING EFFLUENT INCLUDING VINYL CHLORIDE, ETHYL CHLORIDE, DICHLOROETHANE AND OTHER CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF DICHLOROETHYLENES, TETRACHLOROETHANE, TETRACHLOROETHYLENE, TRICHLOROETHANE, TRICHLOROETHYLENE AND MIXTURES THEREOF: 4 B. RECOVERING VINYL CHLORIDE, ETHYL CHLORIDE, DICHLOROETHANE AND THE OTHER CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS FROM THE CHLORINATED HYDROCARBON-CONTAINING EFFLUENT; C. CONTACTING RECOVERED DICHLORETHNAE WITH A MELT CONTAINING A MULTIVALENT METAL CHLORIDE IN BOTH ITS HIGHER AND LOWER VALENCE STATE TO PRODUCE A REACTION EFFLUENT CONTAINING VINYL CHLORIDE; D. BURNING ATLEAST A PORTION OF THE RECOVERED SAID OTHER CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS FROM STEP (B) TO PRODUCE A COMBUSTION EFFLUENT CONTAINING A MEMBER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF CHLORINE,HYDROGEN CHLORIDE AND MIXTURES THEREOF AND IN ADDITION CARBON XOIDES, NITROGEN AND WATER VAPOR; C. CONTACTING THE COMBUSTION EFFLUENT AND A MOLECULAR OXYGEN-CONTAINING GAS WITH MELT FROM STEP (C), RESULTING IN ABSORPTION OF THE MEMBER FROM THE COMBUSTION EFFLUENT BY ADDITION OF CHLORINE TO THE MELT AND THE PRODUCTION OF THE METAL OXYCHLORIDE; AND F. EMPLOYING AT LEAST A PORTION OF THE MELT FROM STEP (E) IN STEP (A).

Claim 5

The process as defined in claim 1 wherein said contacting of steps (a) and (c) is effected at a temperature from about 700*F. to about 1200*F. and the contacting of steps (e) is effected at a temperature from about 600*F. to about 900*F.

Claim 6

The process as defined in claim 2 wherein the melt further includes a univalent metal chloride.

Claim 7

The process as defined in claim 3 wherein said multivalent metal is copper.

Claim 8

The process as defined in claim 3 wherein the univalent metal chloride is an alkali metal chloride.

Claim 9

The process as defined in claim 5 wherein the alkali metal chloride is potassium chloride.

Claim 10

The process as defined in claim 5 wherein said burning of step (d) is effected at a temperature from about 1000*F. to about 3000*F.

Claim 11

The process as defined in claim 7 wherein the melt employed in step (c) is obtained from step (a) and the melt employed in step (e) is obtained from step (c) whereby the melt is continuously circulated from step (a) to step (c) to step (e) and back to step (a).

Claim 12

The process as defined in claim 7 wherein the melt employed in step (c) is obtained from step (e) and melt from steps (a) and (c) is circulated to step (e).

Claim 13

A continuous process for producing vinyl chloride, comprising: a. contacting as fresh vapor feed ethane and a member selected from the group consisting of hydrogen chloride, chlorine and mixtures thereof and as recycle ethyl chloride, unreacted ethane and ethylene with a molten mixture comprising cuprous chloride, cupric chloride, copper oxychloride and potassium chloride, and contacting being effect at a temperature from about 700*F. to about 1200*F. to produce a reaction effluent comprising vinyl chloride, ethyl chloride, ethylene, unreacted ethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, other chlorinated hydrocarbons selected from the group consisting of dichloroethylenes, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethane and tetrachloroethane and mixtures thereof; b. recovering vinyl chloride, 1,2-dichloroethane, ethyl chloride, ethylene and unreacted ethane from the reaction effluent; c. recyclying ethyl chloride, unreacted ethane and ethylene to step (a); d. dehydrochlorinating 1,2-dichloroethane to vinyl chloride by contacting 1,2-dichloroethane at a temperature from about 700*F. to about 1200*F. with a molten mixture comprising cuprous chloride, cupric chloride and potassium chloride; e. buring at least a portion of the other chlorinated hydrocarbons to produce a combustion effluent comprising hydrogen chloride, chlorine, carbon oxides, water vapor and nitrogen; f. contacting the combustion effluent and a molecular oxygencontaining gas with melt from step (d) at a temperature from about 600*F. to about 900*F. resulting in absorption of the chlorine and hyrodgen chloride from the combustion effluent by chlorinating the melt to effect enrichment thereof with cupric chloride and to further produce copper oxychloride; and (g) passing at least a portion of the melt from step (f) to step (a).

Claim 14

A continuous process for producing vinyl chloride, comprising: a. contacting as fresh vapor feed ethane and a member selected from the group consisting of hydrogen chloride, chlorine and mixtures thereof and as recycle ethyl chloride, unreacted ethane and ethylene with a molten mixture comprising cuprous chloride, cupric chloride, copper oxychloride and potassium chloride, and contacting being effect at a temperature from about 700*F. to about 1200*F. to produce a reaction effluent comprising vinyl chloride, ethyl chloride, ethylene, unreacted ethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, other chlorinated hydrocarbons selected from the group consisting of dichloroethylenes, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethane and tetrachloroethane and mixtures thereof; b. recovering vinyl chloride, 1,2-dichloroethane, ethyl chloride, ethylene and unreacted ethane from the reaction effluent; c. recyclying ethyl chloride, unreacted ethane and ethylene to step (a); d. dehydrochlorinating 1,2-dichloroethane to vinyl chloride by contacting 1,2-dichloroethane at a temperature from about 700*F. to about 1200*F. with a molten mixture comprising cuprous chloride, cupric chloride and potassium chloride; e. buring at least a portion of the other chlorinated hydrocarbons to produce a combustion effluent comprising hydrogen chloride, chlorine, carbon oxides, water vapor and nitrogen; f. contacting the combustion effluent and a molecular oxygencontaining gas with melt from step (d) at a temperature from about 600*F. to about 900*F. resulting in absorption of the chlorine and hyrodgen chloride from the combustion effluent by chlorinating the melt to effect enrichment thereof with cupric chloride and to further produce copper oxychloride; and (g) passing at least a portion of the melt from step (f) to step (a).

Claim 15

The process as defined in claim 10 wherein at least a portion of the melt employed in step (e) is obtained from step (h).

Claim 16

The process as defined in claim 10 wherein the contacting effected in steps (a), (e) and (h) is effected countercurrently.

Claim 17

The process as defined in claim 10 wherein said combustion is effected at a temperature from about 1000*F. to about 3000*F.

Claim 18

The process of claim 10 wherein the molten mixture employed in step (c) is obtained from step (g) whereby said molten mixture further comprises copper oxychloride.

Claim 19

The process of claim 10 wherein the molten mixture employed is step (c) is obtained from step (a).

Claim 20

A continuous process for producing vinyl chloride, comprising: a. contacting in a first reaction zone a vapor feed comprising as fresh feed ethane, and a member selected from the group consisting of chlorine, hydrogen chloride and mixtures thereof and as recycle, ethane, ethylene, and ethyl chloride, with a melt containing cuprous chloride, cupric chloride, copper oxychloride and potassium chloride, said potassium chloride being present in an amount of from about 20 percent to about 40 percent, by weight, of the melt with the remainder being said copper chlorides and oxychlorides, said contacting being effected at a temperature from about 700*F. to about 1200*F.; b. withdrawing a first gaseous effluent from the first reaction zone including ethane, ethylene, vinyl chloride, dichloroethane, ethyl chloride and other chlorinated hydrocarbons selected from the group consisting of dichloroethylene, trichloroethane, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethane, tetrachloroethylene and mixtures thereof; c. recovering from the first gaseous effluent and recycling to the first reaction zone ethane, ethylene, and ethyl chloride; d. recovering vinyl chloride from the first gaseous effluent as reaction product; e. recovering dichloroethane from the first gaseous effluent and introducing recovered dichloroethane into a second reaction zone wherein the dichloroethane is contacted with a melt including cupric chloride, cuprous chloride and potassium chloride, said potassium chloride being present in an amount from about 20 percent to about 40 percent, by weight, of the melt, said contacting being effected at a temperature from about 700*F. to about 1200*F. to dehydrochlorinate dichloroethane to vinyl chloride; f. withdrawing a second gaseoUs effluent, including vinyl chloride from the second reaction zone and recovering therefrom, as reaction product, vinyl chloride; g. recovering from the first gaseous effluent at least a portion of the other chlorinated hydrocarbons and effecting combustion thereof with molecular oxygen to produce a combustion effluent including hydrogen chloride, chlorine, carbon oxides, water vapor and nitrogen; h. contacting the combustion effluent and a molecular oxygen-containing gas with melt recovered from step (e) at a temperature from about 600*F. to about 900*F. resulting in absorption of the chlorine and hydrogen chloride from the combustion effluent by addition of chlorine to the melt to effect enrichment thereof with cupric chloride and the production of copper oxychloride; and i. passing at least a portion of the melt from step (h) to step (a).

Claim 21

A continuous process for producing vinyl chloride, comprising: a. contacting in a first reaction zone a vapor feed comprising as fresh feed ethane, and a member selected from the group consisting of chlorine, hydrogen chloride and mixtures thereof and as recycle, ethane, ethylene, and ethyl chloride, with a melt containing cuprous chloride, cupric chloride, copper oxychloride and potassium chloride, said potassium chloride being present in an amount of from about 20 percent to about 40 percent, by weight, of the melt with the remainder being said copper chlorides and oxychlorides, said contacting being effected at a temperature from about 700*F. to about 1200*F.; b. withdrawing a first gaseous effluent from the first reaction zone including ethane, ethylene, vinyl chloride, dichloroethane, ethyl chloride and other chlorinated hydrocarbons selected from the group consisting of dichloroethylene, trichloroethane, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethane, tetrachloroethylene and mixtures thereof; c. recovering from the first gaseous effluent and recycling to the first reaction zone ethane, ethylene, and ethyl chloride; d. recovering vinyl chloride from the first gaseous effluent as reaction product; e. recovering dichloroethane from the first gaseous effluent and introducing recovered dichloroethane into a second reaction zone wherein the dichloroethane is contacted with a melt including cupric chloride, cuprous chloride and potassium chloride, said potassium chloride being present in an amount from about 20 percent to about 40 percent, by weight, of the melt, said contacting being effected at a temperature from about 700*F. to about 1200*F. to dehydrochlorinate dichloroethane to vinyl chloride; f. withdrawing a second gaseoUs effluent, including vinyl chloride from the second reaction zone and recovering therefrom, as reaction product, vinyl chloride; g. recovering from the first gaseous effluent at least a portion of the other chlorinated hydrocarbons and effecting combustion thereof with molecular oxygen to produce a combustion effluent including hydrogen chloride, chlorine, carbon oxides, water vapor and nitrogen; h. contacting the combustion effluent and a molecular oxygen-containing gas with melt recovered from step (e) at a temperature from about 600*F. to about 900*F. resulting in absorption of the chlorine and hydrogen chloride from the combustion effluent by addition of chlorine to the melt to effect enrichment thereof with cupric chloride and the production of copper oxychloride; and i. passing at least a portion of the melt from step (h) to step (a).