PRODUCTION OF ANILINE BY DIRECT AMINATION

Considerations in defining the preferred route

In industry, there are two main routes for the production of aniline from benzene: catalytic hydrogenation of nitrobenzene and the amination of phenol with ammonia. Both employ a two-step process: nitrobenzene or phenol has to be produced from benzene and then aniline must be formed. The drawbacks of these routes are low atomic efficiencies and expensive reactants. Direct amination of benzene to aniline is a one-step process which would reduce the number of reaction steps and achieve a higher atomic efficiency. It is expected that this approach also will reduce the number of unit operations and with this the CAPEX. In addition, it will lower the cost on reactants and energy consumption. It therefore is expected to be more economically profitable. ¹