Use
DL-Methionine is the second amino acid that is almost exclusively manufactured
by chemical synthesis. The process used today was originally developed by
Werner Schwarze at Degussa in the 1940s, and has been continually improved and
refined since. Today DL-methionine is manufactured in several plants, each with a
capacity of more than 100,000 tonnes. To operate the process on an industrial scale
also requires back-integration into the key hazardous raw materials acrolein,
methyl mercaptan, and hydrogen cyanide. After the formation of the
hydantoin, the key step is alkaline hydrolysis of the hydantoin, to produce
methionine directly in up to 95 % yield based on acrolein.