METHYLMERCAPTAN PRODUCTION PROCESS, METHOD OF PREPARING CATALYST FOR PRODUCTION OF METHYLMERCAPTAN, AND METHOD OF PRODUCING HYDROGEN SULFIDE FOR METHYLMERCAPTAN PRODUCTION Russian patent published in 2000 - IPC

FIELD: industrial inorganic synthesis. SUBSTANCE: natural gas odorant methylmercaptan is prepared by passing methanol-hydrogen sulfide binary mixture at atmospheric pressure through a set of at least two tubular reactors filled with catalysts and isolating products from thus passed gas mixture by condensation. Unreacted gas components are supplemented by needed amount of methanol or hydrogen sulfide and recycled. Utilized catalyst is molybdenum or tungsten oxides. Process is carried out at 390-430 C and gas mixture flow rate in reactors is 100 to 1000 h^-1 using hydrogen sulfide prepared by interaction of diluted sulfuric acid and agglomerated barium sulfide fraction 5-20 mm. Reaction water is removed from resulting gas mixture by cooling the mixture to 70-90 C. Unreacted methanol is cooled to 8-30 C. Methylmercaptan product is cooled to temperature from 0 to Ц5 C by passing methanol-free through solution of salt neutral to hydrogen sulfide, for instance calcium chloride at concentration 0.5 to 6 wt %. Catalyst is prepared by impregnation of preliminarily molded and sintered porous carrier (ultralight chamotte or diatomite) with tungsten and molybdenum compound solution followed by drying (at 400-450 C for 1-4 h and further in inert gas, e.g. nitrogen, flow at 300-450 C for 1-4 h) and baking. In order to obtain solution with concentration from 0.1% to saturation, ammonium tungstenate or molybdate are used and 0.1 to 30 wt % of a water-soluble polymer (methylcellulose, polyvinylpyrrolidone, or polyvinyl alcohol) is added to water. Barium sulfate formed in hydrogen sulfide production is reduced back into barium sulfide by natural gas in countercurrent thermochemical reactor at 950-1050 for 50-60 min. EFFECT: increased degree of conversion and nearly completely eliminated emission of gases containing adverse substances. 9 cl, 1 dwg, 2 ex