industrial production of acetone, its history and its applications

2. organic compound with formula (CH3)2CO. IUPAC name: Propan-2-one.
It is a simplest ketone.
Serves as an important solvent in the lab as well as industry.
Miscible with water and serves as a cleaning agent as it is able to dissolve
almost all the compounds.
Uses Of Acetone:
Remove glue, tar, nail polish and paint.
Clean equipment.
embalming fluids as a vehicle.

3. History:
Started in 1916, during world war 1, with chaim weizmann's isolation of clostridium
acetobutylicum.
Thus the first laboratory production of the acetone dates back to 1916.
Also acetone was the reason that the german's lost the world war 1.
There are 5 methods for producing acetone
Production methods:
1) Cumene Process 2) From alkane nitriles 3) Hydrolysis of gem - dihalides
4) Oxidation of isopropyl alcohol 5) Fermentation Process

4. Cumene Process:
The air oxidation of cumene (isopropyl benzene) leads to production of both phenol and
acetone.
At the end of reaction, we get acetone as well as phenol both of which are desirable.

5. From alkane nitriles:
Reaction of grignard reagent with alkane nitriles followed by hydrolysis results in the
formation of ketones.
So ethane - nitrile reacts with methyl magnesium bromide and it is followed by hydrolysis.
At the end of hydrolysis we get acetone.

6. Hydrolysis of gem - dihalides:
Ketones are produced by alkane hydrolysis of those gem – halides in which the two hydrogen
atoms are attached to a non - terminal carbon atom.
So, 2,2 - Dichloropropane followed by alkaline hydrolysis and atlast acetone will be produced.

7. Oxidation of isopropyl alcohol:
Ketones can be prepared by controlled oxidation of secondary alcohol using an acidified
solution of potassium dichromate.
So, 2 - Propanol followed by oxidation process produces acetone.

8. Fermentation Process:
The organisms that carry out the fermentation are strictly anaerobic (obligate anaerobes).
Submerged cultures.
Substrate: Sterile diluted molasses (or) Cooked corn meal.
PH : 7.2
Type of fermentation : anaerobic
By - Products : CO2 {Preparation of dry ice} & H {fuel}
Product recovery : Fractional distillation.
There are two important organisms that help in the production of acetone through fermentation.
They are:
Clostridium acetobutylicum
Clostridium saccharoacetobutylicum

9. Clostridium acetobutylicum :
First organism.
Industrial production of acetone from starch.
Clostridium saccharoacetobutylicum :
Convert molasses into acetone & butanol.
ABE (Acetone - Butanol - Ethanol) fermentation:
produces solvents in a ratio of 3 parts acetone, 6 parts butanol to 1 part ethanol.
6 B : 3 A : 1 E .
Large bioreactors are used.
CO2 was bubbled through the culture to ensure that O2 was excluded.

10. Fermentation is biphasic i.e., it has two phases. They are :
Acidogenesis :
Forming acetate, butyrate, hydrogen and CO2 .
Solventogenesis :
Forming butanol, acetone and ethanol.
After 40 -60 hours, 12 - 20 gm / L of solvent was produced.
The solvents are removed by distillation.
The remaining microbial dead solids were used as high nutrient animal feed.