Process for the production of vinyl acetate from ethylene

In a process for the production of vinyl acetate by feeding ethylene and a member selected from the group consisting of oxygen and oxygen-containing gases into a catalytic mixture consisting of palladium and copper halogenides and an acetate selected from the group consisting of alkali metal and alkaline earth metal acetates in acetic acid, under conditions of high temperature and pressure, wherein said catalytic mixture is recovered and regenerated, the improvement which comprises:

• a. removing the catalytic mixture from the reaction vessel in which the vinyl acetate is being produced;
• b. bringing said mixture into contact with an element having an electrochemical potential algebraically lower than the electrochemical potentials of copper and palladium, so as to separate the palladium and copper in their elementary form;
• c. converting the metallic palladium and copper so recovered to the corresponding chloride salt, by placing the metallic palladium and copper in suspension in a dilute aqueous solution of hydrochloric acid and bubbling therethrough, a member selected from the group consisting of chlorine gas, air, and oxygen;
• and
• d. returning the metallic palladium and copper chloride salts to the reaction vessel in which the vinyl acetate is being produced,
• said exhausted catalytic mixture being set at a temperature near room temperature and further being allowed to freely rise by the effect of the heat evolved from galvanic displacement up to the boiling point of the mixture.