Coal-based MMA synthesis technology opens up a new route for coal chemical industry

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Author/Source: Huahua Network Coal Chemicals. On March 6, 2019, the \"Integrated Technology for Producing MMA from Ethylene and Syngas using Ionic Liquids as Catalysts\", developed by the Ionic Liquids and Green Engineering Team at the Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, passed the evaluation of scientific and technological achievements organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation. This technological achievement uses ethylene, syngas, formaldehyde, and methanol – products derived from the coal chemical industry – as raw materials to produce MMA (methyl methacrylate) through four reaction steps. It overcomes the challenges associated with catalyst development and the processing steps of hydroformylation, aldol condensation, aldehyde oxidation, and esterification, thereby opening up a new route for the synthesis of MMA from coal-based materials. Starting in 2008, over a period of more than a decade, the project team overcame various technical challenges related to catalysts for hydroformylation, aldol condensation, aldehyde oxidation, and esterification, as well as issues concerning separation, purification, and process integration. As a result, they developed a set of technologies with independent intellectual property rights. Through innovations in ionic liquid-mediated metal catalytic systems and the design of new reactor structures, the problems of catalyst deactivation and entrainment in the hydroformylation reaction process have been overcome ； By utilizing the principle of synergistic enhancement by positive and negative ions, high conversion rates and high selectivity in the aldol condensation reaction are achieved under mild conditions, thereby overcoming the problems associated with high temperatures and pressures, as well as high costs for equipment and operation. In 2010, a contract was signed with Henan Energy and Chemical Group to jointly promote the industrialization of new technologies. Henan Energy Chemical Group selected its subsidiary, Henan Zhongyuan Dahua Group Co., Ltd., to carry out industrial trials. In 2018, the first thousand-ton-scale industrial testing facility was built and achieved stable operation; the performance of the products was excellent, thereby verifying the reliability and advancement of this technology. MMA is a basic raw material for high-end materials in aerospace, electronic information, optical fibers, optical lenses, robotics, and other fields. China has the highest consumption of MMA in the world, with a foreign dependence rate of over 60% and an annual demand growth rate of over 10%; it is one of the top ten products with the highest dependence on organic chemical imports. The main production method for MMA worldwide is the propylene cyanohydrin route; however, it is being phased out due to limitations associated with the HCN raw material, as well as high safety risks and significant pollution. In recent years, the technology for producing MMA using isobutylene, a by-product of petroleum, has been successfully put into industrial demonstration and application in China, offering new opportunities to address the country’s MMA shortage. However, our country’s resource profile, dominated by coal, provides a natural advantage for the development of coal-based MMA technology. The successful development of the MMA production technology using the ethylene-syngas route has opened up new paths and opportunities for the development of MMA and related industries, providing technological support for the advanced, differentiated, and sustainable development of modern coal chemical industry in China.