Process for the production of vinyl acetate

An integrated process for the production of vinyl acetate which comprises the steps of:

• 1) contacting in a first reaction zone a gaseous feedstock comprising mainly ethane with a molecular oxygen-containing gas in the presence of a catalyst to produce a gaseous product stream comprising acetic acid;
• 2) contacting in a second reaction zone a gaseous feedstock comprising mainly ethane with a molecular oxygen-containing gas in the presence of a catalyst to produce a second gaseous product stream comprising ethylene;
• 3) contacting in a third reaction zone the first gaseous product stream and the second gaseous product stream with a molecular oxygen-containing gas in the presence of a catalyst to produce a fourth product stream comprising vinyl acetate;
• 4) separating the product stream from step (3) and recovering vinyl acetate from said product stream from step (3) wherein the catalyst in the first and second reaction zone is of the formula
• MoaPdbXcYd
• wherein X and Y have the following meaning:
• X is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Cr, Mn, Nb, Ta, Ti, V, Te and W:
• Y is at least one element selected from the group consisting of B, Al, Ga, In, Pt, Zn, Cd, Bi, Ce, Co, Rh, Ir, Cu, Ag, Au, Fe, Ru, Os, K, Cs, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Nb, Zr, Hf, Ni, P, Pb, Sb, Si, Sn, TI and U and wherein a, b, and c are gram atom ratios and denote
• a=1;
• b=0.000-0.1;
• c=0.1-1;
• d=0.005-1.