Synthesis of ethanol through hydrogenation of acetic acid

Brief introduction

Ethanol is an important bulk organic chemical product and is currently a new growth area in China, which specifies that its gasoline can have 10 percent ethanol.

Synthesizing ethanol from acetic acid could deal with the current situation of an overcapacity of acetic acid and extend the acetic acid downstream product chain. The technology we developed for the synthesis of ethanol through hydrogenation of acetic acid uses a process of synthesizing acetate (methyl acetate or ethyl acetate) through the esterification of acetic acid, then synthesizing ethanol through the catalytic hydrogenation of the acetate.

Technical features and capacity

1.The catalyst is highly stable, highly selective, with moderate reaction conditions and a high space-time ethanol yield.

2.There are no corrosive substances generated during reaction and the corrosion-resistance requirements for the equipment are minimal. During the entire process, only the acetic acid esterification section of the reactor needs to be made of anti-corrosion material.

3.It lengthens the downstream product chain of acetic acid and could solve the problem of recycling of byproduct acetate for some companies.

4.It is not affected by grain-price fluctuations, compared with conventional fermentation method.

Capacity: 10~200kt/a

Technical indicators