Page 32 - The engineering of chemical reactions

16 Introduction

1.1 From what you now know about chemical reactions, guess the (1) major uses and (2) reaction
processes that will produce the following chemicals starting only from natural gas (CH4 and
C2H6), air, water, and salt.
(a) CO;

(b) HZ;
(cl CH30H;
(d) ethylene;
(e) Cl2 and NaOH;
(f) phosgene;
(9) urea;
(h) toluene;
(i) HCHO;
C.9 CzHsOH;
(k) vinyl chloride;
(1) acetic acid.
Throughout this course we will be examining reactions such as these. The objective of the
chemical industry is to produce high-purity molecules in large quantities as cheaply as possible.
Many of your guesses will probably not be as effective as those currently practiced, and almost
all processes use catalysts to increase the reaction rates and especially to increase the rate of
the desired reaction rate and thus provide a high selectivity to the desired product.

1.2 Write out the chemical formulas for the organic chemicals shown in Table l-2. What are the
IUPAC names of these chemicals?

1.3 There are several books that describe chemical processes, and these are excellent and painless
places to begin learning about how a particular chemical is made. One of the best of these
is Kirk-Othmer, Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, an excellent multivolume set. Choose
one of the following chemicals and describe one or more processes and reactors by which it is
currently made.
Some bioprocesses:
citric acid
lysine
fructose
ethanol
Some microelectronic and ceramic precursors and materials:
silicon
SiH4
Sic14
G&S
AsH3
TiC coatings
TiO2 pigment
cement
Some polymers and adhesives
silicones