Eastman Chemical Company

Jerry Lee Bewley

Robert Sterling Kline

Gregory Abbott Wellman, Jr

Joseph Nathaniel Bays

Brandon Tyler Earls

Robert Melvin Schisla

Lee Reynolds Partin

Henry Dyson

George Geiger Mayfield

Donald Wayne Lane

Randall Lee Conaway

Disclosed is a process for the production of acetic acid or mixtures of acetic acid and acetic anhydride in a carbonylation process wherein a mixture comprising methyl acetate and/or dimethyl ether and methyl iodide is contacting in the liquid phase with carbon monoxide in the presence of a carbonylation catalyst at elevated pressures and temperatures. Methanol, water, or a mixture thereof is added to an acetic anhydride-containing stream within a flash evaporation zone to convert some or all of the acetic anhydride to acetic acid and optionally methyl acetate and to provide heat for the evaporation of a portion of the product effluent produced by the carbonylation process.

Production of acetic acid and mixtures of acetic acid and acetic anhydride

Growing community of inventors

Church Hill, TN, United States of America

Jerry Lee Bewley