BP ‐Amoco Mid‐Century Process for Terephthalic Acid Production (Case Study)

Summarized within this chapter is a description of the BP-Amoco liquid phase, Mid-Century catalyzed oxidation of p -xylene to crude terephthalic acid, and its aqueous phase heterogeneous catalyzed purification to Purified Terephthalic Acid . The intention of this review is to describe the BP-Amoco process for production of Purified Terephthalic Acid . A presentation of alternative technologies is made, but no effort was dedicated to analyze these technologies. Included in this review is a history of the discovery and development of terephthalic acid, including interests in the commercial production of polyethylene terephthalate for the embryonic polyester industry. A partial mechanism is presented to explain the very high rate of reactions which eventually lead to high yields of terephthalic acid. Even as the original Standard Oil terephthalic acid process was being developed, there were alternative means to secure Purified Terephthalic Acid and dimethyl terephthalate. Multiple efforts have been launched to improve the MC catalyzed oxidation. Presented herein are engineering, use of alternative oxidants, and various heterogeneous and homogeneous catalytic routes.