Water → Phenol

Participants

Reaction Steps

In U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,325 (assigned to BP Chemicals), the work-up of a fraction which has been substantially freed of low boilers, water, and acetone has been optimized by operating the cumene column in such a way that a mixture comprising cumene, AMS and hydroxy acetone is taken off at the top, with this mixture being separated virtually completely from the crude phenol remaining in the bottoms and thus not having to be removed in a costly fashion during the work-up of the phenol. This process gives phenol containing less than 30 ppm of hydroxy acetone. A disadvantage of this process is the fact that the input mixture has to be substantially freed of water, which is why an acetone fraction comprising low boilers and also the major part of the water present in the cleavage product mixture has to be separated from the cleavage product mixture in the preceding separation step. The work-up of such an acetone fraction by methods of the prior art is relatively uneconomical, since a high expenditure for apparatus is required.

Provenance & Evidence