Ammoxidation

The Sohio process ( for Standard Oil of Ohio), is a chemical engineering process for the production of acrylonitrile by the catalytic oxidation of propylene and ammonia. The procedure is the largest industrial ammoxidation process.

The process was discovered by Jim idol and Evelyn Jonak 1957. The starting materials are ammonia, propene and pure oxygen, serves as a catalyst, a bismuth phosphomolybdate. Hydrogen cyanide and acetonitrile are obtained as byproducts, water as a coproduct. Critical to the development of the process was the use of a fluidized catalyst bed, which allowed for efficient heat dissipation.

The reaction proceeds according to the following equation:

The reaction takes place at about 400 bar ° C and a pressure of about 2. The catalysts used in iron and other components doped bismuth molybdate contacts.

The annual world production in 2005 was 6 million tons, of which about 1.5 million tonnes in the European Union.