Industrial Production of Ethanoic Acid:
Industrially ethanoic acid (acetic acid) is manufactured from pyroligneous acid, obtained from the destructive distillation of wood. It contains ethanoic acid, propanone and methane. When this mixture is distilled along with lime, calcium ethanoate is formed as residue. When the ethanoate so found is distilled with sulphuric acid, ethanoic acid is obtained as liquid distillate.
Most of the ethanoic acid produced is converted into ethenyl ethanoate (vinyl acetate) which is the monomer for poly(ethenyl ethanoate) and ethanoic anhydride (acetic anhydride) which is used principally to make cellulose ethanoate. Annual production of ethanoic acid (acetic acid): In whole World: 14.6 million tonnes. Mainly Europe produce: 750 000 tonnes. USA produce 5.4 million tonnes.
