Preparation of vinyl acetate

PURPOSE: To obtain vinyl acetate with high selectivity in high yield with a decreased amt. of a catalyst and decreased volume of a reaction chamber by using a specified catalyst carried on a carrier such as SiO 2 comprising cylindri cal particles having curved front faces and carrying out the reaction in a gas phase of ethylene, acetic acid and O 2 . CONSTITUTION: The reaction in carried out in a gas phase comprising ethylene, acetic acid and O 2 or O 2 -contg. gas in the presence of a catalyst to obtain vinyl acetate. The catalyst is prepared by depositing palladium and/or its compd., and if necessary, with addition of gold and/or a gold compd. and an alkali compd. as an activating agent, and if necessary, with addition of a cadmium compd. on a carrier comprising aerogenic SiO 2 or aerogenic SiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 mixture. The carrier consists of cylindrical particles each of which has two curved front faces and has 2 to 8 mm radius and 2 to 15 mm length including the curved faces and the height of each curved front face as 0.1 to 1 time of the radius. The carrier has 50 to 250 m/g surface area and 0.4 to 1.2 ml/g pore volume. COPYRIGHT: (C)1989,JPO