Process for the manufacture of fatty acid nitriles and glycerol from glycerides, especially from natural fats and oils
AssigneeHoechst Aktiengesellschaft
InventorsSiegfried Billenstein, Bruno Kukla, Herbert Stuhler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Glycerol and aliphatic nitriles are simultaneously produced by treating liquid glycerides with gaseous ammonia at a rate of at least 200 liters of ammonia per kilogram of glyceride per hour at temperatures of from 220.degree. to 300.degree. C. in the presence of metal salts of carboxylic or sulfonic acids as catalysts and subjecting the product mixture to a phase separation into a nitrile phase and a glycerol/water phase. Preferred starting materials are vegetable and animal fats and oils.
Claims9
A process for producing simultaneously glycerol and saturated or olefinically unsaturated fatty acid nitriles without isolating intermediates by treating fatty acid glycerides or mixtures of fatty acid glycerides with gaseous ammonia at elevated temperatures in the presence of catalysts, wherein the improvement comprises contacting the liquid fatty acid glyceride at temperatures of from about 220.degree. to about 300.degree. C. with a flow of at least 200 liters ammonia per kilogram of fatty acid glyceride per hour in the presence of metal salt of a carboxylic or sulfonic acid as a catalyst, wherein in said metal salt the metal cation is lead, cadmium, iron, cobalt, zinc, tin, titanium, zirconium, chromium, antimony, manganese, or nickel and the anion is selected from the group consisting of saturated aliphatic mono- and polycarboxylic acids;
- olefinically unsaturated aliphatic mono- and polycarboxylic acids;
- mono-, di-, and trialkylated benzene and naphthalene mono- and polycarboxylic acids;
- alkane mono- and disulfonic acids;
- fluorosubstituted alkane monosulfonic acids;
- monohydroxy-substituted alkane monosulfonic acids;
- mono-, di-, and trialkylated benzene- and naphthalene- mono- and polysulfonic acids;
- and (monocarboxy)alkyl and (dicarboxy)alkyl benzene and naphthalene mono- and polysulfonic acids;
- or mixtures of said catalysts;
- removing a product mixture containing said nitriles, glycerol, and water formed from the liquid fatty acid glycerides, and subjecting the product mixture to a phase separation into a nitrile phase and a glycerol/water phase.
A process for producing simultaneously glycerol and saturated or olefinically unsaturated fatty acid nitriles without isolating intermediates by treating fatty acid glycerides or mixtures of fatty acid glycerides with gaseous ammonia at elevated temperatures in the presence of catalysts, wherein the improvement comprises contacting the liquid fatty acid glyceride at temperatures of from about 220.degree. to about 300.degree. C. with a flow of at least 200 liters ammonia per kilogram of fatty acid glyceride per hour in the presence of metal salt of a carboxylic or sulfonic acid as a catalyst, wherein in said metal salt the metal cation is lead, cadmium, iron, cobalt, zinc, tin, titanium, zirconium, chromium, antimony, manganese, or nickel and the anion is selected from the groups consisting of saturated aliphatic mono- and polycarboxylic acids;
- olefinically unsaturated aliphatic mono- and polycarboxylic acids;
- mono-, di- and trialkylated benzene and naphthalene mono- and polycarboxylic acids;
- alkane mono- and disulfonic acids;
- fluoro-substituted alkane monosulfonic acids;
- monohydroxy-substituted alkane monosulfonic acids;
- mono-, di-, and trialkylated benzene and naphthalene mono- and polysulfonic acids;
- and (monocarboxy)alkyl and (dicarboxy)alkyl benzene and naphthalene mono- and polysulfonic acids;
- or mixtures of said catalysts;
- removing a part of the product mixture containing substantially the entire amount of glycerol and a proportional portion of water and of the nitrile formed from the liquid fatty acid glycerides, subjecting said part of the product mixture to a phase separation into a nitrile phase and a glycerol/water phase, water-extracting and combining the separated nitrile phase with the unremoved nitrile portion and treating said combined nitriles with a flow of ammonia of from about 5 to about 150 liters ammonia per kilogram nitrile per hour at temperatures of from about 200.degree. to about 320.degree. C. in the presence of said catalysts defined hereinbefore.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.