Non-polluting oxyhydrochlorination process

Claim 1

In a process of non-polluting oxyhydrochlorination in which gaseous hydrogen chloride, air, or oxygen, ethylene and/or a chlorinated derivative of ethylene are reacted to obtain an effluent containing chlorinated derivatives of ethylene, whereby there are removed from said effluent the unwanted chlorinated derivatives of ethylene produced during said oxyhydrochlorination reaction, the residual effluent containing essentially oxygen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, unreacted ethylene, 1,2-dichloroethane and at least one chlorinated hydrocarbon from the group consisting of chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, ethyl chloride, 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,1,1- and 1,1,2-trichloroethanes, 1,1,2,2- and 1,1,1,2-tetrachloroethanes, vinyl chloride, 1,1- and 1,2-dichloroethylenes, trichloroethylene, perchloroethylene and chloral, wherein said residual effluent is preheated to a temperature between about 250° and 400° C.; the improvement comprising subjecting said heated residual effluent to oxidation by the action of an oxidation catalyst comprising the combination of a metal selected from the class consisting of platinum and iridium and mixtures thereof, deposited on a support of alumina of eta crystallographic structure, thereby producing a mixture of gases comprising carbon dioxide, hydrochloric acid, water vapor, oxygen, and nitrogen.