The Dow Chemical Company

Eberhard Dreher

Garnet E McConchie

Christoph Buhs

The oxychlorination process for producing ethylene dichloride is carried out by reacting ethylene with hydrogen chloride and oxygen in an oxychlorination reactor. Thereby, ethyl chloride and perhaps vinyl chloride are produced as by-products. The effluent from the reactor is at least fractionated into an ethylene dichloride-rich fraction (I) and an ethyl chloride-rich fraction (II) so that fraction (I) contains less than 50 percent of the total weight of ethyl chloride produced in step (a) and the sum of the weight of ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride in fraction (II) is less than 30 percent of the weight of ethyl chloride in fraction (II). The ethyl chloride-rich fraction (II) is subjected to a cracking reaction in the presence or absence of an inert diluent wherein ethyl chloride is converted into ethylene and hydrogen chloride in the presence of a catalyst. The total weight of ethylene dichloride and vinyl chloride is less than 5 percent, based on the combined weight of ethyl chloride and any inert diluent.

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Midland, MI, United States of America

Eberhard Dreher