METHOD OF PRODUCING ACETIC ACID Russian patent published in 2009 - IPC C07C51/12 C07C51/44 C07C53/08 C07C51/42 

FIELD: chemistry.

SUBSTANCE: proposed method involves the following stages: (a) reaction of carbon monoxide with at least one reagent chosen from a group, consisting of methanol, methyl acetate, methyl formate and dimethyl ether and their mixture in a reaction medium, containing water, methyl iodide and catalyst for obtaining the reaction product, containing acetic acid; (b) gas-liquid separation of the said reaction product to obtain a volatile phase, containing acetic acid, water and methyl iodide and a less volatile phase, containing the said catalyst; (c) distillation of the above mentioned volatile phase to obtain a purified product of acetic acid and a first overhead fraction, containing water, methylacetate and methyl iodide; (d) phase separation of the above mentioned first overhead fraction to obtain the first liquid phase, containing water, and second liquid phase, containing methyl iodide and methyl acetate; and (e) feeding dimethyl ether directly or indirectly into a decantation tank of light fractions for phase separation of the said first overhead fraction in a quantity, sufficient for increasing separation of the first overhead fraction to form the first and second liquid phases.

EFFECT: improvement of the method of producing acetic acid.

8 cl, 1 dwg