Patent ID: 7307181
Filing Date: 2007-12-11
Classification: C07C

Abstract:
1. A process for producing a nitrile compound which comprises introducing meta-xylene into a reactor in combination with ammonia and an air and ammoxidizing the introduced compound in the gas phase, in a presence of a catalyst including an oxide of at least one element selected from the group consisting of vanadium, molybdenum and iron, wherein, during the reaction, a residual gas component comprising nitrogen gas as a main component, containing molecular nitrogen in an amount of more than 50% by volume, which is obtained after the formed nitrile compound is separated from a reaction gas discharged from the reactor, is recycled to the reactor in an amount in a range of 10 to 60% by volume based on an amount of a fresh raw material gas comprising meta-xylene, ammonia and the air which are freshly supplied to the reactor, and a ratio of an amount by mole of molecular oxygen to an amount by mole of the organic substituents in the meta-xylene supplied to the reactor (O 2 /organic substituent) is kept in a range of 1.5 to 7.