Developments in the production and application of dimethylcarbonate Original Research Article

Manufacturing methods of dimethylcarbonate (DMC) are examined, in particular those which have been industrially exploited. Apart from the old phosgenation process, two processes based on the oxy-carbonylation of methanol went on stream: the copper chloride catalysed, one step liquid-phase process, by EniChem, and the palladium catalysed, two steps gas-phase process, via methylnitrite, by UBE. Two further technologies are attractive for full-scale development in the next future: the gas-phase direct methanol oxy-carbonylation and the alkylenecarbonate transesterification process. In the last few years, the use of DMC in the chemical industry has considerably grown, due to its chemical properties and its non-toxicity, an outstanding example being represented by the non-phosgene production of aromatic polycarbonates. Other very promising fields of large scale DMC application are as solvent and as oxygenate in reformulated fuels.