The Dow Chemical Company has been a long-standing producer of chlorinated hydrocarbons for use as chemical intermediates in the production of polyurethanes, epoxies, polymers, agrochemicals, and refrigerants.   This talk will focus on two recent R&D efforts directed at novel methods for chlorocarbon production to serve the changing landscape of chemical feedstocks.  In the first, methane was selectively converted to methyl chloride, a precursor for primary olefin feedstocks (ethylene, propylene), utilizing novel catalytic methods for alkane sulfo-chlorination and desulfonylation.  Total carbon selectivities above 98% and full SO2 recoveries were realized through catalyst selection and process controls.   In the second, a process was developed for the production of 1,1,2,3-tetrachloropropene, a precursor for climate friendly fluorocarbon refrigerant HFO-1234yf, based upon the addition of methyl chloride to perchloroethylene in the presence of free radical initiators.  The kinetic, thermodynamic, and mechanistic factors influencing these chemical transformations will be discussed, as well as the factors influencing commercial viability.

Selective methane activation and chlorocarbon development for climate friendly refrigerants via free radical chemistries

246th National Meeting (2013)

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