ABSTRACT
BP Chemicals is the world’s largest producer of ethyl acetate. A common route for the production of ethyl acetate is via the esterification of ethanol with acetic acid. In 1997 BP Chemicals disclosed a new technology to produce ethyl acetate directly from ethylene and acetic acid using supported heteropoly acid catalysts. In 2001 the world’s largest ethyl acetate plant (220,000 tonnes per annum) was successfully commissioned on BP Chemicals site, in Hull, UK. This innovative green technology is trademarked as Avada process (AdVanced Acetates by Direct Addition). The Avada process is more energy efficient and environmentally friendly than other routes to ethyl acetate. It won the prestigious 2002 AstraZeneca award for the best Green Chemistry and Engineering Process from the UK Institute of Chemical Engineers. This paper describes some of the studies carried out at the University of Waterloo, which were designed to provide a fundamental understanding of this novel Avada process.
