The chiyoda/UOP acetica~TM process: a novel acetic acid technology

摘要

Recently,Chiyoda and UOP have introduced a novel heterogeneous methanol carbonylation process,called the acetica process,for the production of acetic acid.The technology,which is based on a heterogeneous rhodium (Rh) catalyst,offers several distinct advantages over existing homogeneous processes.Immobilization enables increased catalyst concentration in the reaction mixture,which is directly proportional to acetic acid production rate,without the addition of an alkali iodide salt promoter.The heterogeneous catalyst also results in reduced by-product formation because of the lower water concentrations present in the process.