Process for improving adiponitrile quality

1. A process for reacting impurities present in adiponitrile (ADN) comprising: introducing ADN feed and an ozone-containing gas to a co-current plug flow static mixer reactor (PFSMR) and contacting the ADN feed with said ozone-containing gas in said PFSMR to oxidize at least a portion of said impurities, to produce a reactor discharge, wherein said impurities include 2-cyanocylcopentylideneimine (CPI), phosphorous (III) compounds (P(III)), from about 5 to about 100 ppm of tert-butyl catechol (TBC) and from about 100 to about 600 ppm of decenedinitrile (DDN).

2. A process of claim 1 , wherein the reactor discharge includes a gas and an ozone-treated ADN liquid, which includes unreacted impurities and less deleterious impurities.

3. A process of claim 2 , wherein the reactor discharge is conducted to an apparatus which separates the gas from the ozone-treated ADN liquid to produce an off-gas and a degassed liquid, which is an ozone-treated ADN product.

4. A process of claim 3 , wherein the off-gas contains less than 10 ppm of ozone and is discharged to the atmosphere or to a catalytic abatement unit.

5. A process of claim 1 , wherein the ozone-containing gas comprises ozone and a carrier gas, and wherein said carrier gas is any gas that is substantially inert to the ADN feed at operating temperature of the process.

6. A process of claim 5 , wherein the carrier gas is air, air diluted with nitrogen, oxygen-enriched air, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, helium, argon, or a mixture thereof.

7. A process of claim 5 , wherein the ozone-containing gas comprises about 0.1 to about 3% wt. of ozone.

8. A process of claim 5 , wherein the ozone-containing gas comprises about 3.0% wt. of ozone.

9. A process of claim 1 , wherein the ADN feed comprises about 0.5 to about 10 ppm P(III) and about 10 to about 200 ppm CPI.

10. A process of claim 1 , wherein the ADN feed comprises about 2 to about 10 ppm P(III), about 10 to about 50 ppm CPI, about 10 to about 50 ppm TBC, and about 200 to about 400 ppm of DDN.

11. A process of claim 3 , wherein the ozone-treated ADN product comprises less than 1 ppm P(III), less than 5 ppm CPI, and less than 5 ppm TBC.

12. A process of claim 1 , wherein the amount of ozone supplied to the process is sufficient to react at least about 90% of the TBC present in the ADN feed.

13. A process of claim 1 , wherein about 0.1 to about 4 mmoles of ozone per liter of the ADN feed is supplied to the process.

14. A process of claim 1 wherein the ADN feed is produced by the hydrocyanation of butadiene using a homogeneous nickel(0) catalyst with phosphorous containing ligands.

15. A process of claim 1 where the ozone is produced by passing air through an ozone generator that produces a gaseous stream comprising about 3 wt % ozone.

16. A process of claim 1 , wherein the ozone consumption in the PFSMR is in excess of 99% of the ozone fed to the PFSMR.

17. A process of claim 1 , wherein the mass transfer parameter (k L a) is about 0.1 second −1 or greater.

18. A process of claim 1 , wherein the mass transfer parameter (k L a) is about 0.5 second −1 or greater.

19. A process of claim 1 , wherein the residence time of the ADN feed and the ozone-containing gas in the PFSMR is about 2 to about 8 seconds.

20. A process of claim 1 , wherein the residence time of the ADN feed and the ozone-containing gas in the PFSMR is about 2 to about 4 seconds.

21. A process of claim 1 , wherein the residence time of the ADN feed and the ozone-containing gas in the PFSMR is about 3 seconds.

22. A process of claim 3 , wherein the ozone-treated ADN product is hydrogenated to ACN and HMD.

23. A process of claim 1 , wherein the pressure drop across the PFSMR is at least about 1 atmosphere (101.3 kPa).