(12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2006/0142607 A1 Ryu Et Al
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US 2006O142607A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2006/0142607 A1 Ryu et al. (43) Pub. Date: Jun. 29, 2006 (54) PROCESS FOR MAKING DIALKYL Publication Classification CARBONATES (51) Int. Cl. (75) Inventors: J. Yong Ryu, League City, TX (US); CD7C 69/96 (2006.01) Abraham P. Gelbein, Falls Church, VA (52) U.S. Cl. .............................................................. 558/277 (US) Correspondence Address: (57) ABSTRACT Kenneth H. Johnson A process for the production of dialkyl carbonates from the P.O. Box 630708 reaction of alcohol, for example C-C alcohols, with urea is Houston, TX 77263 (US) disclosed wherein the water and ammonium carbamates (73) Assignee: CATALYTIC DISTILLATION TECH- impurities in the feed are removed in a prereactor. The water NOLOGES is reacted with urea in the feed to produce ammonium carbamate which is decomposed along with the ammonium carbamates originally in the feed to ammonia and carbon (21) Appl. No.: 11/358,671 dioxide. In addition some of the urea is reacted with the (22) Filed: Feb. 21, 2006 alcohol in the first reactor to produce alkyl carbamate which is a precursor to dialkyl carbonate. Dialkyl carbonates are Related U.S. Application Data produced in the second reaction Zone. The undesired by product N-alkyl alkyl carbamates are continuously distilled (63) Continuation of application No. 10/821,225, filed on off from the second reaction Zone along with ammonia, Apr. 8, 2004. alcohol and dialkyl carbonates under the steady state reactor operation. N-alkyl alkyl carbamates can be converted to (60) Provisional application No. 60/558,838, filed on Apr. heterocyclic compounds in a third reaction Zone to remove 2, 2004. as Solids from the system. Patent Application Publication Jun. 29, 2006 Sheet 1 of 5 US 2006/0142607 A1 Separation Unit 2. S 29 Ammonium Carbamate (7/(7. 7 Organic waste Patent Application Publication Jun. 29, 2006 Sheet 2 of 5 US 2006/0142607 A1 MeOH DMC Patent Application Publication Jun. 29, 2006 Sheet 3 of 5 US 2006/0142607 A1 Annonium Carbamate Ether 128 2. Patent Application Publication Jun. 29, 2006 Sheet 4 of 5 US 2006/0142607 A1 223 MEC Separation Unit DEC DMC 224 776 / Patent Application Publication Jun. 29, 2006 Sheet 5 of 5 US 2006/0142607 A1 AG US 2006/0142607 A1 Jun. 29, 2006 PROCESS FOR MAKING DALKYL CARBONATES process. In the first step cyclic carbonates are produced by reacting epoxides with carbon dioxide as disclosed in U.S. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Pat. Nos. 4,786,741; 4,851,555 and 4,400,559. In the second 0001) 1. Field of the Invention step dimethyl carbonate is produced along with glycol by exchange reaction of cyclic carbonates with methanol. See 0002 The present invention relates to a process for the for example Y. Okada, etal “Dimethyl Carbonate Production production of dialkyl carbonates, particularly C-C dialkyl for Fuel Additives', ACS, Div. Fuel Chem., Preprint, 41(3), carbonates wherein the reaction occurs simultaneously with 868, 1996, and John F. Knifton, et al., “Ethylene Glycol separation of the reactants and the carbonate products. More Dimethyl Carbonate Cogeneration”, Journal of Molecular particularly the invention relates to a process wherein alco Chemistry, vol. 67, pp. 389-399, 1991. While the process has hol is reacted with urea and/or alkyl carbamate in the its advantages, the reaction rate of epoxides with carbon presence of a complex compound catalyst. More particularly dioxide is slow and requires high pressure. In addition, the the invention relates to a process wherein feed stream exchange reaction of the cyclic carbonate with methanol is impurities are removed to produce stable catalyst perfor limited by equilibrium and methanol and dimethyl carbonate mance, improved reaction rates and trouble free downstream operation of equipment. form an azeotrope making separation difficult. 0009. It has been known that dialkyl carbonates can be 0003 2. Related Art prepared by reacting primary aliphatic alcohols such as 0004 Dialkyl carbonates are important commercial com methanol with urea (1) in the presence of various heteroge pounds, the most important of which is dimethyl carbonate neous and homogeneous catalysts Such as dibutyltin (DMC). Dimethyl carbonate is used as a methylating and dimethoxide, tetraphenyltin, etc. See for example P. Ball et carbonylating agent and as a raw material for making al, “Synthesis of Carbonates and Polycarbonates by Reac polycarbonates. It can also be used as a solvent to replace tion of Urea with Hydroxy Compounds’. C1 Mol. Chem., halogenated solvents such as chlorobenzene. Although the vol. 1, pp. 95-108, 1984. Ammonia is a coproduct and it may current price of both dimethyl carbonate and diethyl car be recycled to urea (2) as in the following reaction sequence. bonate is prohibitively expensive to use as fuel additive, both could be used as an oxygenate in reformulated gasoline and an octane component. Dimethyl carbonate has a much (1) higher oxygen content (53%) than MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) or TAME (tertiary amyl methyl ether), and hence not nearly as much is needed to have the same effect. 2ROH + H2N-C-NH2 <=> RO-C-OR + 2 NH It has a RON of 130 and is less volatile than either MTBE alcohol le:8 dialkyl carbonate or TAME. It has a pleasant odor and, unlike ethers, is more (2) readily biodegradable. O 0005. In older commercial processes dimethyl carbonate 2NH + CO2 <===> HN-C-NH + HO was produced from methanol and phosgene. Because of the extreme toxicity and cost of phosgene, there have been efforts to develop better, non-phosgene based processes. 0010 Carbamates are produced at a lower temperature 0006. In one new commercial process, dimethyl carbon followed by production of dialkyl carbonates at higher ate is produced from methanol, carbon monoxide, molecular temperature with ammonia being produced in both steps. oxygen and cuprous chloride via oxidative carbonylation in a two-step slurry process. Such a process is disclosed in EP 0460735A2. The major shortcomings of the process are the O O low production rate, high cost for the separation of products and reactants, formation of by-products, high recycle in-l-Nil, + ROH <====> Ro--Nil, + NH requirements and the need for corrosion resistant reactors alkyl carbonate and process lines. O O 0007 Another new process is disclosed in EP 0742 198 Ro--Nil, + ROH <===> Ro--or + NH A2 and EP 0 505 374 B1 wherein dimethyl carbonate is produced through formation of methyl nitrite instead of the dialkyl carbonate cupric methoxychloride noted above. The by-products are nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, methylformate, etc. Dim 0011. As noted the above two reactions are reversible ethyl carbonate in the product stream from the reactor is under reaction conditions. The order of catalytic activity of separated by Solvent extractive distillation using dimethyl organotin compounds is RSn-RSnX-RSnX, wherein oxalate as the solvent to break the azeotropic mixture. X=C1, RO, RCOO, RCOS. A maximum reaction rate and Although the chemistry looks simple and the production rate minimum formation of by-products are reported for dialkyl is improved, the process is very complicated because of the tin (IV) compounds. For most catalysts (Lewis acids), higher separation of a number of the materials, balancing materials catalyst activity is claimed if the reaction is carried out in the in various flow sections of the process, complicated process presence of an appropriate cocatalyst (Lewis base). For control and dealing with methyl nitrite, a hazardous chemi example, the preferred cocatalyst for organic tin (IV) cata cal. lysts such as dibutyltin dimethoxide, dibutyltin oxide, etc. 0008. In another commercial process dimethyl carbonate are triphenylphosphine and 4-dimethylaminopyridine. How is produced from methanol and carbon dioxide in a two-step ever, thermal decomposition of intermediate alkyl carbam US 2006/0142607 A1 Jun. 29, 2006 ates and urea to isocyanic acid (HNCO) or isocyanuric acid catalyst containing alkyoxy groups, for example, the meth ((HNCO)) and alcohol or ammonia (a coproduct of urea oxy groups on the organotin complex compound molecules decomposition) is also facilitated by the organotin com are highly reactive with water molecules resulting in pounds such as dibutyltin dimethoxide or dibutyltin oxide hydrolysis of the bond between the tin atom and oxygen employed in the synthesis of dialkyl carbamates. WO atom of methoxy group. Ammonium carbamate causes 95/17369 discloses a process for producing dialkyl carbon problems for controlling the backpressure in the dialkyl ate Such as dimethyl carbonate in two steps from alcohols carbonate producing reactor and plugging the cooling sys and urea, utilizing the chemistry and catalysts published by tem (condenser) of the product vapor stream from the P. Ball et al. In the first step, alcohol is reacted with urea to dialkyl reactor, because of the deposition of ammonium produce an alkyl carbamate. In the second step, dialkyl carbamate. carbonate is produced by reacting further the alkyl carbam ate with alcohol at temperatures higher than the first step. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The reactions are carried out by employing an autoclave reactor. However, when methanol is reacted with methyl 0017 Briefly the present invention is an improved pro carbamate or urea, N-alkyl by-products such as N-methyl cess for production of dialkyl carbonate comprising the steps methyl carbamate (N-MMC) and N-alkyl urea are also of: produced according to the following reactions: 0018 (a) feeding a stream containing urea, alcohol, water and ammonium carbamate to a first reaction Zone: O 0019 (b) concurrently in said first reaction Zone, CHO-C-NH + (CHO)2CO ===> 0020 (i) reacting water with urea to form ammonium O carbamate, CH-O-C-NH-CH + CHOH+CO 0021 (ii) decomposing the ammonium carbamate in O the feed and the ammonium carbamate from the reac tion of water with urea into ammonia and carbon CH-O-C-NH-CH + dioxide, and CHOH <====> (CH3)2CO + CH3NH2 0022 (c) removing ammonia, carbon dioxide and said alcohol from said first reaction Zone as a first overheads: 0012.