Objective: To develop a continuous vapour phase catalytic process for the preparation of o-chloro benzonitrile and p-chloro benzonitrile; To operation of the reaction at 100g catalyst level and estimation of optional reaction parameters; To establish ta catalyst preparation process technology for the preparation at 1 kg level; To demonstrate the process at 100g catalyst scale with the targeted yield of the products to be 75% with more than 95% selectivity. The targeted life of the catalysts is more than three months in continuous operation. Summary: The project deals with the single step vapor phase continuous heterogeneous catalytic process for the preparation of halogen containing benzonitriles through ammoxidation reaction. Ammoxidation is a single step process and can used effectively in place of multistep synthetic method for the preparation of nitriles in tons scale. The main deliverable is the development of active catalysts for the preparation of chloro benzoitriles resulting more than 95% selectivity and 75% yield. It is proposed to demonstrate the process at 100 g catalysts level with all kinetic parameters. The catalyst preparation process technology will be established to prepare catalyst at 1 kg scale to be used in bench scale reactor. The developed process can be suitable for the preparation of other aromatic nitriles also. | 
