Patented Production Process

 

To see a flash movie showing the production process, please click on the picture.

Some thirty years ago, the chemists at our R&D department developed new routes for making ethanolamines and ethylene amines. We refined and further developed the technology until it was ready for industrial production, and then built a brand new, purpose-designed plant. When we went on stream in the seventies, we were the first company in the world to produce ethylene amines from ethylene oxide and anhydrous ammonia in a full-scale, commercial operation. This revolutionary, patented technology covers three important processes:

1. MEA (monoethanolamine) reaction from EO (ethylene oxide) and anhydrous ammonia.

2. EA (ethylene amine) formation from MEA and anhydrous ammonia.

3. EDA (ethylenediamine) separation out of a water/amine mixture.

EO based process: In the EO based process, ethylene oxide is reacted with anhydrous ammonia in a liquid phase, under high pressure in the presence of a special catalyst. A large excess of ammonia is required to ensure that the reaction goes to completion.

The reaction produces MEA (monoethanolamine), DEA (diethanolamine) and TEA (triethanolamine). The excess ammonia is recovered by distillation and recycled back into the reactor. Since the selectivity of TEA is very low, pure TEA is not recovered. The TEA, which also contains DEA, is tapped off and sold under the name of Berolamine-10.

The MEA is used together with ammonia for producing ethylene amines to be separated by distillation. The reaction, which is carried out under high pressure over a catalyst in the presence of hydrogen, produces water (as a by-product) and several important amines.

Some of the piperazine is fed to separate, multi-purpose plants for the production of another ethylene amine – NMP (N-methyl piperazine). piperazine).