Method for producing vinyl acetate monomer

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing vinyl acetate in a heterogeneously catalyzed, continuous gas-phase process by reacting ethylene with acetic acid and oxygen in a reactor, and a) separating the product gas flow essentially containing ethylene, vinyl acetate, acetic acid, water, carbon dioxide, and other inert gases, and b) feeding a circulating gas flow containing ethylene and CO2 back into the reactor, c) the circulating gas flow being compressed in a circulating gas compressor before being fed back into the reactor, and d) a partial flow of the circulating gas is branched off on the suction side or the pressure side of the circulating gas compressor and is fed to a CO2 scrubbing process, and e) is scrubbed in a water scrubber before the CO2 scrubbing process, characterized in that f) after the CO2 scrubbing process, the partial flow, together with ethylene as a propellant, is fed, by means of a jet compressor, to the circulating gas on the pressure side of the circulating gas compressor and downstream of the point where the partial flow is removed for CO2 scrubbing, and/or g) the bottom product from the water scrubber is fed directly to the pre-dehydration column.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.