Process for the chlorination of methane

A process for the chlorination of methane using hydrogen chloride as the source of chlorine and avoiding net production of hydrogen chloride, said process consisting essentially of steps operated in tandem:

• first, subjecting chlorinated ethylene consisting essentially of perchloroethylene to oxychlorination with hydrogen chloride and oxygen in the presence of an oxychlorination catalyst to give reaction products consisting essentially of hexachloroethane and water;
• second, isolating said hexachloroethane from the reaction products of the first step and reacting it with methane feedstock in the vapor phase to produce products consisting essentially of chlorinated methane, perchloroethylene, and hydrogen chloride;
• and
• third, isolating perchloroethylene and hydrogen chloride from hydrocarbon products of the second step and recycling the hydrogen chloride and perchloroethylene thus isolated to the first step whereby chlorination using regenerated hexachloroethane is accomplished, the process is operated with total utilization of hydrogen chloride, and net production of hydrogen chloride is avoided.