Manufacturing Method of Isooctanoic Acid
Isooctanoic acid, also known as 2-ethylhexanoic acid, is an important organic chemical raw material, which is widely used in lubricants, plasticizers, stabilizers, fragrances and other fields. This article will introduce the manufacturing method of isooctanoic acid, including raw material preparation, reaction process, post-treatment and precautions.
I. Raw material preparation
1. Ethanol: as one of the raw materials, ethanol should have high purity to ensure the normal progress of the subsequent reaction.
2. Acetic acid: as another raw material, acetic acid should also have high purity to avoid the introduction of impurities.
3. Catalyst: Select appropriate catalyst, such as sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, etc., to promote the esterification reaction.
II. Reaction process
1. Esterification reaction: ethanol and acetic acid are esterified under the action of catalyst to produce ethyl acetate. The reaction needs to be carried out at a certain temperature and pressure to ensure the smooth progress of the reaction.
2. Chlorination: Ethyl acetate is chlorinated with chlorine under light conditions to produce 2-chloroethyl acetate. This reaction requires control of the rate of chlorine addition and light intensity to avoid over-chlorination and generation of by-products.
3. Hydrolysis: 2-chloroethyl acetate is hydrolyzed with water under alkaline conditions to form isooctanoic acid and sodium chloride. The hydrolysis reaction requires control of pH and reaction temperature to ensure complete reaction.
III. Post-treatment
1. Washing: Wash the reaction mixture with water to remove inorganic salts such as sodium chloride.
2. Fractionation: Fractionation of the washed organic phase to separate isooctanoic acid and other organic impurities.
3. Refining: the isooctanoic acid obtained by fractionation is refined to further improve its purity.
4. Precautions
1. Strictly control the quality and purity of raw materials in order to avoid the introduction of impurities.
2. Appropriate reaction conditions, such as temperature, pressure, pH, etc., need to be controlled in each reaction step to ensure the smooth progress of the reaction and the purity of the product.
3. In the post-treatment process, attention needs to be paid to the details of operations such as washing, fractionation and refining to further improve the purity of isooctanoic acid.
In conclusion, the method for manufacturing isooctanoic acid involves a number of reaction steps and post-treatment operations, and the reaction conditions and operation details of each step need to be strictly controlled to ensure the quality and purity of the final product. Attention also needs to be paid to safe production and environmental requirements to ensure the sustainability and economy of the production process.
