Acetic-to-acrylic tests for Celanese

Celanese’s Nanjing-based Chinese subsidiary has signed a tri-party agreement to test the industrial-scale production of acrylic acid using acetic acid as the main raw material. Commercial details are not being disclosed.

The company’s partners in this project are: the Southwest Institute of Chemical, a Ministry of Chemical Industry R&D institute based in Chengdu and known as SW Chem; and Yankuang Lunan of Teng Zhou, a privately owned chemical company which mainly makes urea, methanol, acetic acid and polyoxymethylene.

SW Chem and Yankuang Lunan are jointly developing a technology to produce acrylic acid via acetic acid formaldehyde condensation based on Celanese’s original proprietary research in this field. Yankuang Lunan will build an industrial-scale pilot plant to finish commercial production trials.