The new technology of methyl glycolate preparation is internationally leading

On December 7, news came out from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, that the "methyl ester technology of methyl methoxyacetate and hydrolysis to methyl glycolate" independently developed by the team of academician Liu Zhongmin of the institute passed the evaluation
of scientific and technological achievements organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation.

The evaluation committee, with Academician Xie Kechang as the director and Academician He Mingyuan, Bao Xin and Academician as the deputy director, unanimously agreed that the achievement was innovative, the response conditions were mild, the technical advantages were obvious, and it was at the international leading level, and suggested accelerating the construction of
industrial demonstration devices.

It is understood that Dalian Chemical Institute innovatively proposed the technical route
of using methanol as raw material, methyl methoxyacetate by formaldehyde carbonylation, and hydrolysis to methyl glycolate.
The reaction conditions of this technical route are mild: the reaction temperature of methyl acetate by formaldehyde carbonylation to methyl methoxyacetate is 80 °C ~ 120 °C, and the reaction pressure is 2 ~ 5MPa; The hydrolysis reaction temperature of methyl methoxyacetate is 170 °C ~ 200 °C
.
At the same time, this technology also has the characteristics of easy process amplification, suitable for large-scale industrial production of glycolic acid/methyl glycolate, and can build an industrial chain with methyl methoxyacetate/methyl glycolate as the platform, which is in line with the development direction of high-end, diversified and low-carbon coal chemical industry, as well as the national requirements
for green, low-carbon, clean and efficient chemical production.

Industry insiders believe that the target product of this technology developed by Dalian Chemical has high selectivity and a wide range of raw materials, which solves the problem of high pressure and strong corrosiveness of the traditional formaldehyde carbonylation route, reduces equipment investment and operating costs, and has good application prospects
.

According to the relevant person in charge of the Dalian Chemical Institute, the industrialization of this technology is currently advancing
.
In cooperation with the National Energy Group, Dalian Chemical Institute will start the construction of two sets of methyl glycolate synthesis plants of 175,000 tons/year and 350,000 tons/year, and the preparation of
process packages has been carried out.
Technical and economic analysis shows that this technical route has good economy
.
This technology will contribute to the control of plastic pollution and has good social benefits
.

Glycolic acid/methyl glycolate is an important intermediate and chemical product in organic synthesis, and is also a degradable plastic polyglycolic acid monomer
.
At present, glycolic acid/methyl glycolate only has a small-scale preparation route, mainly for formaldehyde liquid phase carbonylation route and chloroacetic acid hydrolysis route, which is difficult to carry out large-scale promotion and application
due to harsh reaction conditions, large pollution, difficult preparation and high cost.

In addition, the route of hydrogenation of syngas to methyl glycolate by oxalate with large-scale preparation potential is also in industrial
demonstration.