The Cativa Process for the Manufacture Plant of Acetic Acid
The Cativa Process for the Manufacture Plant of Acetic Acid
[FONT="]Acetic acid is an important industrial commodi6 chemical. with [/FONT][FONT="](I [/FONT][FONT="]world demund of about 6million tonnes per year and many industrial rises. The preferred industrial method for it.5 manufacture is by the carbonylation of methanol and this accounts for upproximutely 60 percent of the total world acetic acid manufacturing capacity. The carbonylation of methanol,catalysed by rhodium, was invented by Monsanto in the 1960s andfor 25 years was the leadingtechnology. In I996 a new, more efficient, process for the curbonvlation [/FONT][FONT="]of [/FONT][FONT="]methanol [/FONT][FONT="]was announced by BP Chemicals, this time using an iridium ciitulvst. This article describes thenew process and looks at the ways in which it improves upon the prior technolog[/FONT]