Can vinegar pe produced from crude oil?
Is it possible to produce vinegar from the hydrocarbons found in crude oil? Is it a common practice? What is the process of producing vinegar from said hydrocarbons?
Is it possible to produce vinegar from the hydrocarbons found in crude oil? Is it a common practice? What is the process of producing vinegar from said hydrocarbons?
January 18th, 2010 at 7:31 am
It is possible, but the process would be so difficult that it is much better to make it the usual way.
In short, you would first have to "crack" the big molecules (up to dozens of carbon atoms/molecule) in the crude oil (requiring high heat and expensive rare-earth catalysts) into tiny pieces containing only 2 carbons. By chance, a very tiny fraction of these pieces will be acetic acid (vinegar is 3%-5% solution of acetic acid in water.) the remaining molecules will have to be oxidized from their hydrocarbon form to the acid. Then there is the issue with tar-like compounds containing nitrogen and sulfur which poison the catalyst and make things very stinky. This would not be an easy or quick process, but yes, it could be done.
January 18th, 2010 at 7:31 am
THE process(es) for the industrial preparation of acetic acid involves the catalytic oxidation of natural gas (methane, CH4) to synthesis gas (CO/H2) and then further catalytic conversion of the syn gas to methanol (CH3OH).
The methanol is then catalytically converted to acetic acid with first treatment with CO and then water. The first step involves a homogeneous Rh catalyst (Monsanto Process) or iridium catalyst (Cativa process) and a co-catalyst of HI. That said, although the acetic acid produced this way is pure, vinegar (~5% acetic acid) for human consumption is not from these processes, but made by the fermentation of ethanol. Acetic acid is made on a huge scale for use in acetates, e.g., ethyl acetate, polyvinyl acetate.