1.2.

6 Comparison of the Pathways

The best way to compare the three process pathways are listing out all the advantages and
disadvantages of each process. The advantages and disadvantages are shown below.
(i) The Maumee process:
Advantage:
Highest yield among all the other two process (as high as 90%)
Time for the production of saccharin is much shorter.
Requires lesser amount of raw materials.
Has the highest gross profit compared to the other two processes (MYR 682.43/kg).
Disadvantages:
Numerical steps involved
Numerous raw material involved
Starting material which is highly flammable

(ii) The Remsen Fahlberg process:

Advantage:
Higher selectivity than Maumee process
Disadvantages:
Lowest gross profit MYR 17.64/kg of C7H5NO3S
Manufacturing process produces carcinogenic impurities such as ortho-
toluenesulfonamide, thus an additional purification step is required which
increases the operational cost
One of the step involves heating of compounds in a high concentration of
permanganate, thus increases the operational cost and environmental pollution.
Has a relatively low yield compared to Maumee process (as low as 26%)
Requires expensive reagents such as Toluene and Ammonia
Chlorosulfonation gives a mixture of ortho and para substitution products
(iii) The Modified Czechoslovakian Process:
Advantages:
High yield of the production of saccharin with the percent yield of 83%. It is
comparatively higher than the Falberg-Remsen process but lower than the Maumee
process that has 90 % yields.
Less concentrated chlorinating agent used in this process. For the German process,
the chlorinating agent used is thionyl chlororide, with concentration of 3M. While
this improved Czechoslovakian process use only 1.1- 1.5 M of thionyl chloride, to
reach the 83% yield, 1.5 M thionyl chloride is used, while to get the same
characteristic of saccharin, 1.1-1.2M of thionyl chloride is used, the characteristic of
saccharin that produce using 1.1-1.2M thinly chloride is just same as the saccharin
that found in the world, the colour, taste, and the melting point is almost the same.

Disadvantages:
The cost to produce saccharin is very high. The reactors used in the process have to
be stainless steel, a stainless steel reactor can cost up to 10000 USD, and it is very
expensive. The maintenance cost of the stainless steel reactor much higher
compared to the reactor that used in other process. If the pH value did not maintain
in 6.5 in the first reaction, the stainless steel reactor surface will be corrode and
cause fouling and affect the accuracy of getting the product, and also cause to form
other undesired side product. There are many raw materials involved in this process
and the price of these raw material also very costly.

Time taken for the whole process is long. It takes about 26.5 hours longer than 1
day, 24hours to produce a certain amount of saccharin. On the other hand, there are
many steps and materials to be prepared and every steps need time to settle down
the condition of the reaction.
(iv) The Maumee process:
Advantage:
Time to produce saccharin is much shorter.
Less steps required for the whole production process
Production cost effective
Raw material is effectively cheap when bought in high quantity
Has the highest gross profit compared to the other two processes (MYR 1048.36/kg).
 Table 1.1: Summarized advantages and disadvantages of all the reaction pathways.

Pathway Advantages Disadvantages Gross profit

-High yield 90%

- -Doesnt involve heat
- Numerical
or burning. Thus, low
steps of
cost of production.
A-Maumee Process synthesis MYR 682.43
-No undesired
-Various material
byproduct
needed
(carcinogenic)

-Less Steps taken -Low yield -

-Short Production time 26%
B-Falberg-Remsen
-less material needed -High Cost of MYR 17.64
process
-Undesired byproduct. production

-High Cost of
C-Improved -High yield -83% production
Czechoslovakian -Less Chlorinating agent -Many Raw MYR 47.11
process material needed
-Highest gross profit
D-Modified -no undesired byproduct
RM 1048.36
Maumee Process -less steps in the process
-less cost of production
 From the comparison on the table above, the Falberg-Remsen Process have the lowest
yield with only 26 % because of in the chlorosulfonation process, it forms a ortho and para
product, since only ortho product is suitable to produce high quality saccharin, so the yield is
lower than the other 2 processes which Maumee process 90% and improved Czechoslovakian
process is 83%. By comparing the costs for material and equipment to produce saccharin, the
improved Czechoslovakian process have the highest cost since the reactor needed for this
process is using stainless steel and the raw material needed is too many. Lastly comparing to the
gross profit of the three processes above, the Modified Maumee process have the highest profits
among all the processes. The Modified Maumee process also doesnt produce any harmful
products at the end of the reaction. The raw material needed for the production is relatively cheap
compared to other processes. Therefore, Modified Maumee process is chosen for the production
of saccharin.