Patent GB-407990-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in the manufacture, production and recovery of sulphonation products
IPC: C07C309/00
Filed: 1932-09-17
Abstract: In the manufacture of sulphuric esters from crude or commercial alcohols containing 10--25 carbon atoms, the crude sulphonation product is freed from unsulphonated constituents by neutralizing it with caustic alkali, mixing the neutralized product with water and with methyl, ethyl, propyl or isopropyl alcohol or acetone, and then extracting the aqueous alcoholic or aqueous acetonic mixture with a liquid hydrocarbon or chlorinated liquid hydrocarbon boiling below 200 DEG  C.; the purified sulphuric ester salts are finally recovered by evaporating the aqueous residue. The alcohols used as starting materials may be (1) oxidation products of higher aliphatic hydrocarbons, such as paraffin wax, paraffin oil or montan wax, the oxidation products being treated as such or after separation from saponifiable constituents, or (2) reduction products of such oxidation products (cf. Specification 352,537), or (3) reduction products of higher fatty acids or their esters, such as coco-nut oil, oleic acid, linoleic acid, or acids from train oil, cottonseed oil, or sunflower seed oil, or esters of these acids (cf. Specification 356,731), or (4) single crude or commercial alcohols such as dodecyl, cetyl or oleyl alcohol.  The sulphonation of the alcohols may be effected with concentrated or fuming sulphuric acid or chlorsulphonic acid in the presence or absence of an inert solvent, e.g. carbon tetrachloride or diethyl ether, and/or of a dehydrating agent, e.g. acetic anhydride.  The amount of sulphonating agent may be somewhat less than is theoretically necessary, in which event the lower alcohols in the mixture, e.g. those containing 12--18 carbon atoms, are sulphonated preferentially to the higher alcohols.  The hydrocarbons or chlorinated hydrocarbons used for the final extraction may be single or mixed saturated or unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons boiling below 200 DEG  C., or aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene or toluene, or trichlorethylene or carbon tetrachloride; the extraction may be effected in an autoclave at atmospheric or raised pressure, or in counterflow apparatus.  In the examples: (1) an oxidation product of paraffin wax is saponified, and the soap obtained is treated with gasoline; the unsaponified substances thus extracted are treated with chlorsulphonic acid at 20 DEG  C. and the product is neutralized with caustic soda, mixed in turn with water and ethyl alcohol, and then extracted with a light gasoline fraction; the sulphuric ester sodium salts recovered from the aqueous residue can be used for washing wool; (2) a paraffin wax oxidation product is saponified and extracted as in example 1, and the fatty acids recovered from the soap are reduced as described in Specification 352,537; the reduction product is sulphonated with chlorsulphonic acid and the sulphonation mixture is neutralized with aqueous caustic soda, mixed with aqueous methyl alcohol, and then extracted with a light gasoline fraction; the sulphuric ester sodium salts recovered from the aqueous residue can be used for washing wool.  Specification 324,189, [Class 2 (iii)], also is referred to.  The Provisional Specification states that the process may be applied to sulphonation products of alcohols containing eight or more carbon atoms.