Nick Allen Collins

Alternate fuels and chemicals from synthesis gas: Vinyl acetate monomer. Final report

There has been a long-standing desire on the part of industry and the U.S. Department of Energy to replace the existing ethylene-based vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) process with an entirely synthesis gas-based process. Although there are a large number of process options for the conversion of synthesis gas to VAM, Eastman Chemical Company undertook an analytical approach, based on known chemical and economic principles, to reduce the potential candidate processes to a select group of eight processes. The critical technologies that would be required for these routes were: (1) the esterification of acetaldehyde (AcH) with ketene to generate VAM, (2) the hydrogenation of ketene to acetaldehyde, (3) the hydrogenation of acetic acid to acetaldehyde, and (4) the reductive carbonylation of methanol to acetaldehyde. This report describes the selection process for the candidate processes, the successful development of the key technologies, and the economic assessments for the preferred routes. In addition, improvements in the conversion of acetic anhydride and acetaldehyde to VAM are discussed. The conclusion from this study is that, with the technology developed in this study, VAM may be produced from synthesis gas, but the cost of production is about 15% higher than the conventional oxidative acetoxylation of ethylene, primarily due to higher capital associated with the synthesis gas-based processes.