State of the art and problems of organochlorine synthesis

Abstract

The chemical industry consumes up to 70% of the chlorine produced; up to 60% is used for the production of organochlorine compounds. It is demonstrated that modern industry needs a good few of organochlorine products including epichlorohydrin used to produce the epoxy resins; chloroprene, which is the intermediate for manufacturing of special rubber; methyl chloride and chloroform, which are necessary for the production of organosilicon and organofluorine compounds; PVC, which is widely used in many industries; etc. The technologies of production and application of these products should be designed in such a way that they have a minimum influence on the environment and people’s health. The technologies of organochlorine compounds production with the emphasis on environmental impact are discussed in the article. It is demonstrated that indexes of ecological safety of organochlorine plants largely comply with governmental regulations, but unsolved problems (e.g., the need for environmentally benign catalyst for vinyl chloride monomer production) are also addressed. The advantages of balanced schemes that prevent environment pollution by the waste hydrochloric acid itself or the products of its neutralization are shown. The main regularities about the treatment of wastes formed during organochlorine compounds production as well as the necessity of chlorine-containing xenobiotics removal from industrial use are discussed in the article.