First Chemical Corporation

Harold Greenfield

Arthur C Bayer

Earl G Alley

A two-stage process for the co-production of aniline and m-phenylenediamine where, in the first stage, benzene, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid are reacted in a liquid phase to produce in greater amounts nitrobenzene (approximately 70%) and m-dinitrobenzene (approximately 30%), and in lesser or trace amounts o-dinitrobenzene and p-dinitrobenzene, and water; and in the second stage the products of the first stage are reacted with hydrogen in the liquid phase to produce aniline (approximately 70%) and m-phenylenediamine (approximately 30%) in greater amounts, and o-phenylenediamine and p-phenylenediamine in lesser amounts, and water. The reaction products are separated by distillation. The first stage of a preferred embodiment of the process is characterized in that a concentrated mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid are fed along with mononitrobenzene to a first reactor for producing dinitrobenzene, and then the dilute acid mixture recovered from this first reactor is fed along with benzene to a second reactor for producing the mononitrobenzene used as a reactant in the first reactor. The second stage, which provides the aniline and m-phenylenediamine, is characterized in that the hydrogenation is carried out in the liquid phase with the unpurified reaction products from the first stage. Preferably, the second stage reaction is carried out utilizing a palladium-on-carbon catalyst in an amount of from 0.006 to 0.25 wt. % based on the total weight of the first stage reaction product mixture. The process is applicable to the co-production of other aromatic mono- and diamines.

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Pascagoula, MS, United States of America

Harold Greenfield