1,4-butanediol is an important organic and fine chemical raw material，and is widely applied in many fields, such as medicine, chemical industry, textile, papermaking, automobile and daily chemical industry, etc.. The main commercialized technologies for 1,4-butanediol are as follows: (1) alkynaldehyde process, which is used acetylene and formaldehyde as raw materials; (2) maleic anhydride method, which is used Benzene or n-butane as raw materials under oxidation- esterification- hydrogenation reaction; (3) butadiene acetoxylation method, which is used Butadiene and acetic acid as raw materials. 1,4-butanediol is mainly produced by alkynaldehyde process and maleic anhydride method in China. Due to petroleum price decreasing, maleic anhydride method play an more important role than other technology in the synthesis of 1,4-butanediol.

The researchers of our company developed a complete set of maleic anhydride method. The developed hydrogenation catalysts have high performance and long lifetime by increasing dispersity of active metals, combining with various catalysts, as well the techniques of esterification and separation are optimized. So, the technology for synthesis of 1,4-butanediol is competitive