Patent ID: 8227642

Claim:
A continuous process for the synthesis of compounds containing at least one amine functional group by hydrogenation of compounds containing at least one nitrile functional group, comprising: feeding a gas which comprises hydrogen and a nitrile compound to a plug-flow reactor in which circulates a reaction medium comprising suspended particles of catalyst based on Raney metal, an inorganic base and water; withdrawing, at the outlet of the plug-flow reactor, a portion of the reaction medium comprising the amine compound after separation of the catalyst and recycling the other portion to the plug-flow reactor; recycling the separated catalyst to the plug-flow reactor; feeding a stream of fresh catalyst to the plug-flow reactor; and further wherein the flow rates for feeding nitrile compounds and/or catalyst to the plug-flow reactor are controlled as to maintain a ratio P of the number of moles of nitrile compounds fed per unit of time to the flow rate by weight of catalyst in the plug-flow reactor of from 0.02 to 0.15 mol of nitrile compounds per kg of catalyst for a catalyst exhibiting an initial activity of from 15×10 −5 to 35×10 −5 mol of H 2 /g of catalyst.