Adiponitrile is a large scale chemical intermediate used in the production of Nylon 6,6. It is primarily produced via two methods: the thermal hydrocyanation of butadiene and the electrochemical hydrodimerization of acrylonitrile. The thermochemical method is an energy intensive process that involves acutely toxic reactants such as hydrogen cyanide. On the other hand, the electrosynthesis of adiponitrile is a green chemical process that uses water-based electrolytes and can be directly coupled with renewable electricity sources such as wind or sunlight. Although this process is the largest organic electrochemical process in industry, it still faces many challenges owing to its low energy conversion efficiency and selectivity. Using a systematic approach, this study provides insights into mass transport and kinetic factors that influence the reaction performance, and demonstrates that by careful control of the composition of the electrolyte, concentration of reactants, operating current densities, and temperature, selectivities as high as 83% can be achieved. Our results provide electrochemical engineering guidelines to significantly improve the efficiency of the electrochemical production of adiponitrile and open up opportunities to the direct implementation of renewable-energy sources in chemical manufacturing.

中文翻译：

---

提高己二腈电化学合成的选择性和效率†

己二腈是用于生产尼龙6,6的大规模化学中间体。它主要是通过两种方法：丁二烯的热氢氰化和丙烯腈的电化学加氢二聚。热化学方法是一种能源密集型过程，涉及剧毒反应物，例如氰化氢。另一方面，己二腈的电合成是一种绿色化学过程，它使用水基电解质，并且可以直接与可再生电源（例如风或阳光）耦合。尽管该方法是工业上最大的有机电化学方法，但由于其能量转换效率和选择性低，仍然面临许多挑战。这项研究使用系统的方法，深入了解了影响反应性能的传质和动力学因素，并通过仔细控制电解质的组成证明了这一点，反应物的浓度，工作电流密度和温度均可实现高达83％的选择性。我们的结果提供了电化学工程指导方针，可显着提高己二腈的电化学生产效率，并为在化学制造中直接实施可再生能源打开了机会。