Abstract: There is disclosed a simple economical method of producing butadiene rubber, particularly NBR, in dry powder form free of extraneous material influencing its utility in rubber products manufacture. The method consists of preparing the butadiene rubber in latex form in the usual manner but using sodium lauryl sulfate or equivalent as emulsifier and then coagulating the latex with a combination of magnesium sulfate and aluminum sulfate, or their equivalents, in a molar ratio of Mg to Al in the range of 0.3 to 1 to 2 to 1. The coagulum wet cake obtained contains powder size particles of the rubber and is dried to give a dry free-flowing rubber powder, preferably after addition of zinc stearate or equivalent which functions as an anticake agent and prevents agglomeration of the powder size particles during drying. The zinc stearate can be added to the wet cake as dry powder or as a wet paste or produced in situ.

Abstract: There is disclosed a method and composition for improving the fluidization characteristics and alleviating or inhibiting stickiness in a supported cupric chloride catalyst used as fluid bed catalyst in oxyhydrochlorinations reactions. The method involves the in situ preparation of the supported cupric chloride catalyst by addition of bare support on which no cupric chloride is deposited to the supported cupric chloride catalyst in the fluidized bed, or the use in the bed as the initial charge or as addition to the bed as makeup, of a composition which is a mixture of supported cupric chloride catalyst and bare support. In either event, as the oxyhydrochlorination proceeds, a portion of the cupric chloride on the supported catalyst becomes released therefrom and deposited in situ on the bare support, and stickiness of the cupric chloride containing catalyst particles to one another in the fluid bed is alleviated or inhibited.

Abstract: The separation of butadiene-1,3 from other C-4 hydrocarbons of lesser degree of unsaturation by extractive distillation with alkoxynitrile or aqueous alkoxynitrile as selective solvent is carried out with improved selectivity, without appreciable formation of butadiene-1,3 polymer and with consequent savings in energy by adding to the alkoxynitrile or aqueous alkoxynitrile an organic cosolvent which is dimethyl sulfoxide, sulfolane, butyrolactone, N-methyl pyrrolidone, morpholine, or trimethyl phosphate and/or an inhibitor which is 2,4-dinitrophenol or 2,4-dinitro-ortho-cresol. The organic cosolvent is present in the selective solvent composition in an amount of 5 to 30 percent by weight and the inhibitor in an amount of 0.05 to 0.6 percent by weight.

Abstract: Formation of butadiene-1,3 polymer during the extractive distillation of a C-4 hydrocarbon mixture to separate and purify butadiene-1,3 using a solvent composition in which an alkoxynitrile is present in a proportion of 50-99 percent by weight, is decreased through inclusion in the solvent of a synergistic combination of 2,4-dinitrophenol and phosphoric acid, each in a proportion of 0.05 to 0.5 percent by weight.

Abstract: Butadiene or isoprene are polymerized in the presence of a catalyst prepared by the interaction of (a) an aluminum compound of the general formula R.sub.2 AlX wherein R is an alkyl, cycloalkyl or aryl radical and X is hydrogen, halogen, or an alkyl, cycloalkyl or aryl radical, with (b) a metal halide selected from the group consisting of the chlorides, bromides and iodides of titanium and zirconium, the resulting polymer having a high degree of flexibility at low temperature.