Light hydrocarbon conversion to acrylonitrile and acetonitrile - a review

Nitriles, particularly acrylonitrile and acetonitrile, are versatile chemicals that are used in various fields, such as polymer synthesis and pharmaceutical production. For a long time, acrylonitrile has been produced via propylene ammoxidation with acetonitrile as a byproduct. The depletion of crud...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Dalton transactions : an international journal of inorganic chemistry 2023-05, Vol.52 (19), p.6211-6225
Main Authors: Trangwachirachai, Korawich, Lin, Yu-Chuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acetonitrile
Alkanes
Chemical synthesis
Ethane
Hydrocarbons
Nitriles
Propylene
Shale gas
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Summary:Nitriles, particularly acrylonitrile and acetonitrile, are versatile chemicals that are used in various fields, such as polymer synthesis and pharmaceutical production. For a long time, acrylonitrile has been produced via propylene ammoxidation with acetonitrile as a byproduct. The depletion of crude reservoirs and the production of unconventional hydrocarbon resources ( e.g. , shale gas) renders light alkanes (including propane, ethane, and methane) to be potential feedstocks in the syntheses of acrylonitrile and acetonitrile. In this review, the processes of transforming light hydrocarbons to nitriles are surveyed, the developments in nitrile synthesis from alkanes are discussed, and the existing challenges and plausible solutions are addressed. Acrylonitrile can be produced by (i) propylene using a bismuth molybdate catalyst and (ii) propane using a MoVTeNb mixed oxide catalyst. Acetonitrile can be synthesized either from C 2 (ethylene and ethane) using Co/HZSM-5 or C 1 (methane) using solid-state-pyrolysis-made GaN.
ISSN:1477-9226
1477-9234
DOI:10.1039/d2dt03795e