PROJECT

REVIEW ON
PRODUCTION
OF ACROLEIN
K.RAVIRAJ
S.ABDUL RAHAMAN

AIM:
To Produce 50,000 tons of acrolein per
year

ACROLEIN
It belongs to ,-Unsaturated carbonyl compounds family

C C

Formula:

C H2=CHCHO

Other Names
2-Propenal, Acrylaldehyde, Propenal, Acrylic aldehyde, prop-2-enal, Allyl aldehyde

INRODUCTION
It is simplest unsaturated aldehyde
Acrolein is a clear, colorless, or yellow liquid with a pungent, suffocating
odor
Primary characteristic of acrolein is conjugation of carbonyl group with
vinyl group
Highly toxic with lacrimatory properties
Acrolein is soluble in water, alcohol, ether and acetone.
It may be formed from the breakdown of certain pollutants in outdoor air
or from the burning of organic matter including tobacco, or fuels such as
gasoline or oil

CONT..

It is very flammable and may polymerize violently

It is toxic to humans following inhalation, oral or dermal exposures

Acrolein should be stored in a cool, dry, well-ventilated area intightly sealed
containers separated from alkaline materials such as caustics, ammonia,
organic amines, or mineral acids, strong oxidizers, and oxygen

It is a widely used intermediate in the production of building materials,

herbicides andalgaecides, water treatment chemicals, and essential amino
acids like methionine

AIM: To

HISTORY:

The first industrial process was invented by Degussa in1942, produced acrolein
by aldol condensation of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde
HCH=O + CH3CH=O CH2=CHCHO + H2O

The second process that emerged at the end of the1950s was partial
oxidation of propylene
CH3CH=CH2 + [O] CH2=CHCHO + H2O
The Shell Company initiated the gas phase acrolein production by partial
oxidation of propylene in1958
Followed by stand oil of Ohio(SOHIO)which indentified bismuthmolybdateas the
catalyst for an economical and high yield acrolein production

MAIN PROCESSES:
PROPENE OXIDATION:

GLYCEROL ROUTE:

(CH2OH)2CHOH CH2=CHCHO + 2 H2O

SELECTION OF A PROCESS:
Out of two processes propene oxidation is commercially attractive one
BECAUSE
Availability of propene is very high
Economically viable
Widely accepted in industries.
Development of catalysts with high selectivity & Yield
Low maintainance cost of process & economic feasiability of process

PROCESS DESCRIPTION:
The current industry standard for production of Acrolein is via the catalytic partial
oxidation of Propylene.
FEED:
Propene

Air
Steam
CATALYST:

1:8:4

Bismuth molybdate [Mo12Fe2Bi1.5Co4.4K0,06Ox]- LG chem

OPERATING CONDITIONS:
Temperature: 320C
Contact time: 1-3 sec
Pressure: 150 250 kPa
The reaction is very exothermic [ heat of propene oxidation is 340 kJ/mol]

REACTIONS IN THE REACTOR

In addition to the main reaction to produce acrolein, other reactions also

occur
Results in the formation of acrylicacid, co, co2, acetaldehyde formaldehyde,
acetic acid

 Convertion of propene - 99%

Yield of acrolein 89.6%
Yield of acrylic acid 1.6%

AIM: To

Propylene,Steam and compressed air are mixed and heated to a temperature of

250 C

The resulting mixture is sent to a fixed bed catalytic reactor in which reaction of
propylene with oxygen occurs

The resulting mixture is quenched with deionized water to a temperature of 50

C to prevent more homogeneous oxidation reactions

Then resulting gas is then scrubbed with water or water/solvent mixtures in a first
column to remove acrylic acid, polymeric compounds, and traces of acetic acid

Byproduct acrylic acid can be recovered from the bottoms and purified.

The gas is then passed to an absorber where an aqueous solution of acrolein is

obtained by absorbing the gas in cold water

Cont
Part of the off-gas from the absorber can be used as inert gas for the reactor
because it contains only non condensable components, such as unreacted
propene, carbon oxides, oxygen, and nitrogen
The rest is purged as waste gas after it passes through a combustion system
The aqueous solution of acrolein is sent to a desorption column , where it is
stripped to give crude acrolein
the bottom stream from this column is cooled and reused as an absorbent
The crude acrolein is distilled to remove low boiling byproducts, such as
acetaldehyde, and heavy ends.
acrolein is then obtained as a 96% pure product that contains only traces of
acetaldehyde
To minimize polymerization, the whole system is stabilized by, e.g.,hydroquinone

MARKET TRENDS:
Acrolein as a chemical product is rarely sold in large amounts on the open
market
the price and market for the chemical is entirely dependent on the products it is
used to create
the market is centred around countries and areas with facilities that process the
chemical further
There are six main products that are produced using Acrolein. These are
polyurethane, polyester resin, acrylic acid and acrylonitrile

Small scale Market price:

US $1.9 - 2.1 per Kilogram[Alibaba]
The majority of manufacturers selling Acrolein are doing so from mainland China

USES:
BIOCIDE:
Acrolein is mainly used as a contact herbicide to control
submersed and floating weeds, as well as algae, in irrigation
canals
Used as an agent to control growth of microbes in process feed
lines
Currently, It is used to control growth of algae in oil fields
It is also used as a H2S Scavenger

CHEMICAL PRECURSOR
Used in the production of polyacrylate(SAP)
Methionine production [animal growth, very important amino-acid]
Transparent ballistic polymer[1,3 propanediol] production
Poly-trimethylene terephthalate(PTT) production[ThePTT is widely using in
carpet and textilemanufacturing]

THANKYOU