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US 4,048,196 AGranted
Manufacture of butanediol and/or tetrahydrofuran from maleic and/or succinic anhydride via .gamma.- butyrolactone
AssigneeBASF SE
InventorsFranz Josef Broecker, Matthias Schwarzmann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for the manufacture of 1,4-butanediol and/or tetrahydrofuran, wherein maleic acid or succinic acid is used as the starting material, butyrolactone is produced in defined stages and is hydrogenated to butanediol or tetrahydrofuran, and the by-products formed are in each case recycled to the process.
Claims4
A process for the manufacture of 1,4-butanediol and/or tetrahydrofuran by catalytic hydrogenation of maleic anhydride and/or succinic anhydride (in the former case via succinic anhydride), with formation of .gamma.-butyrolactone as an intermediate, wherein the improvement consists in
- a. hydrogenating maleic anhydride or succinic anhydride in the presence of .gamma.-butyrolactone over a catalyst containing nickel, to give .gamma.-butyrolactone,
- b. removing the water formed during the hydrogenation by separating .gamma.-butyrolactone and water from succinic anhydride by distillation, recycling succinic anhydride and separating .gamma.-butyrolactone and water by distillation, and
- c. converting .gamma.-butyrolactone into butanediol and/or tetrahydrofuran over a catalyst containing copper.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.