Vinyl Chloride Production

Vinyl chloride was first produced in 1835 but did not go into regular production until the early twentieth century.

Vinyl chloride production. Production of vinyl chloride from ethylene. Today vinyl chloride is almost exclusively manufactured by thermal cleavage dehydrochlorination of 1 2 dichloroethane edc. Vcm production results in a number of unwanted. Prior to 1974 workers were commonly exposed to 1 000 ppm vinyl chloride causing vinyl chloride illness such as acroosteolysis and raynaud s phenomenon.

By the older method addition of chlorine to 2. In vinyl chloride production because it consumes the hydrochloric acid hcl a major by product of vinyl chloride production. Pvc consumption is second to low density polyethylene. Vinyl chloride 99 of vcm is used to manufacture polyvinyl chloride pvc.

Vinyl chloride is produced from ethylene in two step process. Vinyl chloride finds its major application in the production of pvc. The main reactions in this process are. Currently nearly 95 of the world s supply is produced using the balanced process.

Vinyl chloride a colourless flammable toxic gas belonging to the family of organohalogen compounds and used principally in making polyvinyl chloride or pvc a widely used plastic with numerous applications. Vinyl chloride has been used in the past as an anaesthetic and as an aerosol spray propellant but its principle use has been to produce the polymer polyvinyl chloride pvc or vinyl. China is the largest overall player in the vcm market with more than 40 of the total global capacity production and consumption in 2018. The major industrial preparation of vinyl chloride begins with ethylene and has two.

Vinyl chloride is an intermediate in the production of pvc plastic used in a wide range of products including pipes wire and cable coatings packaging materials upholstery for automobiles and furniture wall and floor coverings flooring backing for carpet house wares automotive parts medical devices and children s toys. Flow sheet of production of ethylene dichloride. It is volatile so the primary exposure is via inhalation as against food or water with occupational hazards being highest. In 2018 northeast asia was the largest consumer of vcm accounting for over half of the world s vcm demand.

The following pie chart shows world consumption of vinyl chloride monomer.