Vinyl Chloride: Acetylene and Hydrogen Chloride over Active Carbon with Mercury

Vinyl chloride is the gas that polymerises to PVC. Acetylene and hydrogen chloride join over hot active carbon; I. G. Farben's improvement (Boesler and others, US 2,265,509, 1941) was to carry a little mercury vapour along with the gases, which keeps the catalyst working for months. The patent's example turned 95 % of the acetylene into vinyl chloride. Here pure carbide acetylene is used at the example's acetylene rate. Mercury vapour is poisonous: closed apparatus in a fume hood. The picture: our diagram.