Cradle to Gate
Identity ID
e5223743-03f1-492a-a3ee-f9381a9e4094
Materials
Associated ID
46964939-5fa2-4bb0-a71f-36c300979b86
Included activities starts
Included activities ends
Description
Isophthalic acid is commonly used in the production of high polymers such as unsaturated polyester resins and alkyd resins and plasticizers, and is also used in coatings, inks, dyeing modifiers and pharmaceutical synthesis and other fields. Isophthalic acid is modeled as a pure substance; when modeling this substance, users need to add a solvent of their choice to the model. This dataset includes the main raw and auxiliary materials, energy, waste and atmospheric emissions of the production process, in which the wastewater preliminary treatment in the utility processes, the waste gas treatment process and the solid-waste incineration treatment process are included within the dataset boundary, while infrastructure such as the manufacture of production equipment and plant construction is not included within the dataset boundary; the inventory is formed by merging data from multiple sources; the production activities of this product include oxidation reaction, crystallization separation, drying, solvent recovery and other process steps.
Activity Description
The production activities of this product include oxidation reaction, crystallization separation, drying, solvent recovery and other processes.
Process Description
Isophthalic acid (IPA) has the chemical formula C8H6O4 and CAS number 121-91-5. At normal temperature and pressure, it is an odorless white crystalline powder or needle-like crystal. Its melting point is approximately 345°C, and it can sublime when heated. Isophthalic acid is slightly soluble in water, with greater solubility in hot water; it is soluble in alcohols but poorly soluble in diethyl ether and benzene. It exhibits the typical chemical behavior of a dicarboxylic acid and can undergo esterification and amidation reactions with alcohols and amines. It is an isomer of phthalic acid and terephthalic acid. Industrially, it is mainly used to produce unsaturated polyester resins, alkyd resins, polyester fibers, and films and is also used in coatings, inks, plastics modification, and other chemical syntheses.
Time period
2016
2026
Geography
China
Macroeconomic value
Business-as-Usual
Data validation
Yes
Technology
Current Technology
Technology comment
Liquid-phase air oxidation of m-xylene is the leading advanced technology for isophthalic acid production. In this process, isophthalic acid is produced by oxidizing m-xylene with air in the liquid phase, resulting in a clean process and high product purity. This technology accounts for more than 90% of China's total isophthalic acid production. The dataset represents this mainstream technology: m-xylene (MX) is used as the raw material, acetic acid as the solvent, cobalt acetate and manganese acetate as catalysts, and bromide as a promoter. Air is introduced under the specified temperature and pressure conditions to oxidize MX into isophthalic acid.
1. Oxidation section: The oxidation reaction mainly takes place in the oxidation reactor at a temperature of 170–205°C and a pressure of 1.2–1.8 MPa. The conversion rate of m-xylene is approximately 95%.
2. Crystallization and separation section: The slurry from the oxidation reactor is fed into the crystallizers under level control. Crystallization is carried out in three stages. Agitators are used to keep the solids suspended and prevent their accumulation on the walls and bottom of the crystallizers.
3. Drying section: Nitrogen is used as the drying medium. After being indirectly heated by steam, the nitrogen enters the dryer from the discharge end and dries the filter cake. Acetic acid and other liquids in the filter cake evaporate and leave the dryer with the nitrogen through the feed end before entering the scrubber.
4. Solvent recovery section