Impact on the Future Processes for the Manufacture of Chemicals

Abstract

The applications mentioned in Chap. 7 have far reaching implications on sulphonation processes to produce complex chemicals, which hitherto have been manufactured by costly processes, involving various time consuming steps and requiring disposal of hazardous chemicals. The subsequent Chap. 9 will illustrate the above by taking up case studies. It is required that considerable amount of research work to be carried out in order to supply similar techniques for other chemicals specially in the detergent, pharmaceutical, dyestuff and specialty chemicals for petroleum refinery. In order to illustrate the impact on future processes we are pleased to give herewith the following comparison to produce valuable product widely used namely Para Toluene Sulphonic Acid (PTSA). The current process for manufacturing this chemical is sulphonation of toluene at high temperatures in a glass lined reactors using 98 % Sulphuric acid.The new process involved would be at low temperature and would not require any Sulphuric Acid for the sulphonation of toluene to produce PTSA.