Disclosed is a process for co-manufacture of ACRN and HCN with improved HCN selectivity and reduced solids formation in a shared product recovery section.

The invention relates to a process for producing a product gas comprising acetonitrile and/or hydrogen cyanide from a feed stream comprising ammonia and methanol over a solid catalyst comprising a support, a first metal and a second metal on the support, wherein the first metal and the second metal are in the form of a chemical compound, wherein the first metal is Fe, Ru or Co and the second metal is Sn, Zn, or Ge. The pressure is ambient pressure or higher and the temperature lies in a range from about 400 C. to about 700 C. Thus, the process for producing acetonitrile and/or hydrogen cyanide from ammonia and methanol may be catalyzed by a single catalyst and may be carried out in a single reactor. The invention also relates to a catalyst, a method for activating a catalyst and use of a catalyst for catalysing production of acetonitrile and/or hydrogen cyanide from ammonia and methanol.

The present invention relates to a reactor (201) for preparing hydrogen cyanide by the Andrussow process, to an equipment (200) comprising said reactor and to a process for preparing hydrogen cyanide by the Andrussow process. The reactor (201) comprising at least one gas inlet (I) for reactant gases mixture, a catalyst (203), a porous support for the catalyst (204), a porous sub support (205, 206) and at least one outlet (P8) for the reaction products. According to the invention, said reactor has a cone frustum shaped metallic casing (210) and comprises inside the metallic casing, a gas distributor (202) located between the gas inlet and the catalyst, said distributor comprising at least one cone frustum element (D1, . . . Dn) having an upper base directed towards the gas inlet (I).

Process for making purified hydrogen cyanide. The process includes feeding a reaction product including HCN, water, and organonitriles to a separation vessel; taking a liquid slip stream of HCN, water and organonitriles from the separation vessel; and feeding the liquid slipstream into a sidestream stripper to purge nitriles from the HCN reaction product.

The present invention relates to a process for the purification of hydrogen cyanide, comprising the steps of a) splitting a liquid feed stream (1) comprising hydrogen cyanide into at least a first liquid stream (2) and a second liquid stream (3), b) introducing the first liquid stream (2) into a distillation column (4) at a point between the top and the bottom of the distillation column, c) introducing the second liquid stream (3) into the distillation column (4) at the top of the distillation column, d) withdrawing an overhead vapor stream (5) enriched in hydrogen cyanide from the distillation column (4), and e), withdrawing a bottom stream (6) depleted in hydrogen cyanide, wherein the temperature of the second liquid stream (3) in step c) is lower than the temperature of the first liquid stream (2) in step b).

In a method for producing hydrogen cyanide by passing a feed mixture comprising ammonia and methane through reaction tubes, coated on the inner surface with a catalyst comprising platinum, at a reaction temperature of 1000 C. to 1400 C., operated for a time period of at least 100 h, the concentration difference between the ammonia concentration and the methane concentration in the product gas mixture is maintained in a range of from 1.05 % by volume to 3.0% by volume for at least 80% of the time.

The reaction tube for preparing hydrogen cyanide comprises a cylindrical tube composed of ceramic, a catalyst comprising platinum applied to the inner wall of the tube and also at least one insert composed of ceramic, having three or four fins pointing from the tube axis to the inner wall of the tube, which is inserted into the cylindrical tube, wherein the fins divide the tube interior space into substantially straight channels with substantially identical circle segment cross sections and wherein the mean gap between the ends of the fins and the inner wall of the tube is in the range of 0.1 to 3 mm. In the method for preparing hydrogen cyanide, ammonia and at least one aliphatic hydrocarbon having 1 to 4 carbon atoms are reacted in the reaction tube at 1000 to 1400 C.

In a method for producing hydrogen cyanide by passing a feed mixture comprising ammonia and methane through reaction tubes, coated on the inner surface with a catalyst comprising platinum, at a reaction temperature of 1000 C. to 1400 C., operated for a time period of at least 100 h, the concentration difference between the ammonia concentration and the methane concentration in the product gas mixture is maintained in a range of from 1.05 % by volume to 3.0% by volume for at least 80% of the time.

A method is provided for the pyrolysis or thermolysis of a fluid or fluidized starting material in a tube bundle reactor including a plurality of heatable reactor tubes. The method includes feeding the starting material to the tube bundle reactor at one end by at least one supply line; wherein the supply line has several pressure reduction units which enable a positive pressure before the starting material is introduced into individual reactor tubes of the tube bundle reactor and a negative pressure inside the reactor tubes. The pressure reduction units control a substantially equal inflow of the starting material into individual reactor tubes and the reactor tubes are heated to a decomposition temperature of the starting material in at least one primary section. The starting material is pyrolyzed or thermolyzed and a pyrolysis or thermolysis product is obtained.

A reactor is provided for the preparation of modified bitumen, which reactor comprises a horizontal housing comprising a cylindrical wall and two side walls, wherein a bitumen inlet has been provided at or near one of the side walls of the housing and a bitumen product outlet has been provided at or near the opposite side wall of the housing, wherein a plurality of inlets for the provision of oxygen-containing gas has been provided in the cylindrical wall of the housing between the bitumen inlet and the bitumen product outlet, which multi-purpose reactor is further provided with a mixer arranged inside the housing comprising at least one rotor rotating within at least one stator having a plurality of openings. The reaction is used to prepare modified bitumen by contacting bitumen in the reactor with a modified elevated temperature and pressure.