Process for preparing carboxamides by hydrolysis carboxylic acid nitriles in the presence of a catalyst comprising manganese dioxide

1. A process for preparing a carboxamide, the process comprising:

reacting a carbonitrile and water in the presence of i) a catalyst comprising manganese dioxide, ii) an oxidizing agent, and iii) lithium ions, thereby hydrolyzing the carbonitrile to obtain a carboxamide,

wherein the carbonitrile, the water, and the lithium ions are present in a reaction mixture, which is added to the catalyst and has a pH in a range from 6.0 to 11.0.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the oxidizing agent is a gas comprising oxygen.

3. The process of claim 2 , wherein the gas comprises molecular oxygen (O 2 ) or ozone (O 3 ).

4. The process of claim 2 , wherein the gas comprises, by volume:

50 to 98% of an inert gas; and

2 to 50% of molecular oxygen (O 2 ).

5. The process of claim 2 , wherein a concentration of the gas comprising oxygen is in the range of 10 to 1000 liters/hour, based on 1 kg of the catalyst.

6. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reaction mixture has a pH in a range from 6.5 to 10.0.

7. The process of claim 1 , wherein the pH of the reaction mixture is adjusted by adding lithium oxide.

8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the pH of the reaction mixture is not adjusted with an amine.

9. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reaction mixture further comprises an amine and a concentration of the amine in the reaction mixture is at most 0.001% by weight.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the pH of the reaction mixture is adjusted by adding lithium hydroxide.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises at least 50% by weight of manganese dioxide having a formula of MnO x wherein x is in a range of 1.7 to 2.0.

12. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst further comprises at least one promoter selected from the group consisting of Ti, Zr, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, W, Zn, Ga, In, Ge, Sn, and Pt.

13. The process of claim 12 , wherein a content of the promoter in the catalyst is in a range from 0.01 to 10% by weight.

14. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst has a specific surface area in a range from 50 to 1000 m 2 per g.

15. The process of claim 1 , wherein the carbonitrile is an α-hydroxycarbonitrile.

16. The process of claim 15 , wherein the α-hydroxycarbonitrile is 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropionitrile or 2-hydroxypropionitrile.

17. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reaction mixture further comprises at least one solvent selected from the group consisting of acetone, acetaldehyde, propanal, and butanal.

18. The process of claim 17 , wherein a concentration of the aldehyde or ketone compound in the reaction mixture is in a range from 0.1 to 6 mol per mole of carbonitrile.

19. The process of claim 1 , wherein a molar ratio of water to carbonitrile in the reaction mixture is in a range from 0.5:1-25:1.

20. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reacting is carried out at a temperature in a range from 10 to 150° C.

21. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reacting is carried out at a pressure in a range from 0.1 bar to 10 bar.

22. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reacting is carried out in a trickle bed reactor.

23. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst has, in the X-ray spectrum (XRD) measured as a powder, a reflection in a range from 32.0 to 42.0°.

24. The process of claim 1 , wherein the catalyst comprises, by weight percent, based on a total weight of the catalyst:

0.0 to 25% of SiO 2 ;

0.1 to 10% of K 2 O; and

0.0 to 5% of ZrO 2

75 to 99% of MnO 2 .

25. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reaction mixture has a pH in a range from 8.5 to 11.0.

26. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reaction mixture has a pH in a range from 8.5 to 10.0.

27. The process of claim 1 , wherein the reaction mixture has a pH in a range from 8.5 to 9.5.