Issue 24, 2022 - New technology for the preparation of methyl glycolate is internationally leading

On December 7, news came out from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, that the "methyl ester technology of methyl methoxyacetate and hydrolysis to methyl glycolate" independently developed by the team of academician Liu Zhongmin of the institute passed the evaluation
of scientific and technological achievements organized by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation.

The evaluation committee, with Academician Xie Kechang as the director and Academician He Mingyuan, Bao Xin and Academician as the deputy director, unanimously agreed that the achievement was innovative, the response conditions were mild, the technical advantages were obvious, and it was at the international leading level, and suggested accelerating the construction of
industrial demonstration devices.

It is understood that Dalian Chemical Institute innovatively proposed the technical route
of using methanol as raw material, methyl methoxyacetate by formaldehyde carbonylation, and hydrolysis to methyl glycolate.
The reaction conditions of this technical route are mild: the reaction temperature of methyl acetate by formaldehyde carbonylation to methyl methoxyacetate is 80 °C ~ 120 °C, and the reaction pressure is 2 ~ 5MPa; The hydrolysis reaction temperature of methyl methoxyacetate is 170 °C ~ 200 °C
.
At the same time, this technology also has the characteristics of easy process amplification, suitable for large-scale industrial production of glycolic acid/methyl glycolate, and can build an industrial chain with methyl methoxyacetate/methyl glycolate as the platform, which is in line with the development direction of high-end, diversified and low-carbon coal chemical industry, as well as the national requirements
for green, low-carbon, clean and efficient chemical production.