GB820850A - Improvements in or relating to hydrocarbon chlorination - Google Patents

Abstract

Carbon tetrachloride, perchlorethylene or mixtures thereof are prepared by treating an organic compound having one to three carbon atoms and being a saturated aliphatic hydrocarbon, a partially chlorinated saturated aliphatic hydrocarbon or an olefinic hydrocarbon with an amount of chlorine in excess of that required to give a perchlorinated compound and in the presence of a coolant consisting of carbon tetrachloride, perchlorethylene, hexachlorethane, hexachlorobutadiene or mixtures thereof. The reaction is carried out at a temperature between 450 DEG and 800 DEG C. and is characterised in that a sufficient quantity of the components introduced into the reaction zone are in a liquid form so that they take up the heat of reaction of the chlorine and the compound to be chlorinated to a sufficient extent to maintain the temperature of the reaction zone within the desired limits. The hydrocarbon feed is preferably propane or a mixture of hydrocarbons and/or partially chlorinated hydrocarbons may be used instead of a single compound. The liquidvapour mixture fed to the reaction zone may contain some or all of the coolant in a liquid form and some or all of the chlorine or hydrocarbon feed may also be fed in a liquid form if desired. Consideration is given in the Specification to the effect that reaction conditions and reactant ratios have on the ratio of carbon tetrachloride to perchlorethylene in the reaction products and also on the formation of hexachlorethane and hexachlorobenzene. In the Examples 1-9 in which propane or propylene is chlorinated at 550-600 DEG C. in the presence of (1-6) liquid coolants and (7-9) liquid-vapour coolants the reaction conditions and reactant and product compositions are tabulated. Specification 820,849 and U.S.A. Specifications 1,930,350 and 2,305,821 are referred to.