Claims
- 1. In a process for producing ethylene glycol by the vapor phase catalytic hydrogenation of a di(C.sub.1 -C.sub.8)alkyl ester of oxalic acid in the presence of a catalyst and hydrogen gas, the improvement wherein
- (i) said hydrogenation is carried out at a temperature of about 150.degree. to about 240.degree. C. and a pressure of about 0.5 to about 50 atmospheres for a contact time of about 0.2 to about 6 seconds in a hydrogen/oxalate mole ratio of about 10 to about 500, and
- (ii) said catalyst has the following composition formula
- CuMo.sub.k Ba.sub.p O.sub.q
- wherein k, p and q represent gram-atom of Mo, Ba and O, respectively, per gram-atom of Cu, each of k and p is a positive number of at least 0.01 such that the sum k+p is up to 1.5, and the k/p ratio is in the range of from 0.8 to 1.2, and q is a number determined depending upon the atomic valences and gram-atoms of Cu, Mo and Ba.
- 2. The process of claim 1 wherein k=0.01 and p=0.01.
- 3. The process of claim 1 wherein k=0.06 and p=0.06.
- 4. The process of claim 1 wherein k=0.1 and p=0.1.
- 5. The process of claim 1 wherein k=0.2 and p=0.2.
- 6. The process of claim 1 wherein k=0.5 and p=0.5.
- 7. The process of claim 1 wherein the dialkyl ester of oxalic acid is diethyl oxalate.
- 8. The process of claim 7 wherein the conversion of diethyl oxalate is about 100% and the selectivity to ethylene glycol is at least about 74%.
- 9. A process for producing a glycollic acid ester at high selectivity which comprises carrying out the vapor-phase catalytic hydrogenation of a di(C.sub.1 -C.sub.8)alkyl ester of oxalic acid at a pressure of about 0.5 to about 3 atmospheres, and at a temperature in the range from about 150.degree. to 240.degree. C. for a contact time of about 0.2 to about 6 seconds in the presence of hydrogen and a hydrogenation catalyst composition selected from the group consisting of:
- CuMo.sub.0.2 Ba.sub.0.01 O.sub.q
- and
- CuMo.sub.2 Ba.sub.2 O.sub.q
- wherein q is a number determined depending upon the atomic valences and gram-atoms of Cu, Mo and Ba.
- 10. The process of claim 9 wherein the hydrogenation catalyst has the formula CuMo.sub.2 Ba.sub.2 O.sub.q and wherein the reaction temperature is in the range of from about 210.degree. C. to about 240.degree. C., the reaction pressure is about 1 atmosphere and the contact time is in the range of from about 1.5 to 3.0 g.second/ml.
- 11. The process of claim 9 wherein the hydrogenation catalyst is CuMo.sub.0.2 Ba.sub.0.01 O.sub.q wherein the reaction pressure is about 1 atmosphere, the reaction temperature is in the range of from about 185.degree. to 190.degree. C. and the contact time is about 1.5 g.second/ml.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
56-9059 |
Jan 1981 |
JPX |
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Parent Case Info
This application is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 341,237, filed Jan. 21, 1982, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (3)
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
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Parent |
341237 |
Jan 1982 |
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