Sulfuric Acid → Alpha-Methylstyrene

Participants

Reaction Steps

In accordance with the present invention, this is accomplished by an improvement in the process for obtaining phenol from cumene hydroperoxide, which has been obtained by liquid-phase oxidation of cumene with molecular oxygen, which involves forming a reaction mixture by continuously feeding the cumene hydroperoxide into a decomposer wherein the incoming hydroperoxide is diluted by cumene hydroperoxide decomposition products previously formed therein, maintaining the reaction mixture at elevated temperature, feeding to the reaction mixture a decomposition catalyst selected from the group consisting of sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid, withdrawing reaction mixture from the decomposer, removing the decomposition catalyst from the product withdrawn from the decomposer, and fractionally distilling the resulting organic products to separately recover an acetone fraction, a phenol fraction and one or more by-product fractions, which improvement comprises, in combination (a) maintaining the reaction mixture in the decomposer at a temperature in the range of from 65° to 105° C.; (b) feeding the decomposition catalyst to the reaction mixture in amount of from 0.002 to 0.02 percent by weight of the cumene hydroperoxide feed; (c) conducting the decomposition reaction in the absence of added water so that the reaction mixture does not contain more than about 0.5 percent by weight of water, based on the weight of the reaction mixture; (d) withdrawing reaction mixture from the decomposer at cumene hydroperoxide concentrations not exceeding about 0.5 percent by weight, based on the weight of the reaction mixture; and (e) adding a base to the product withdrawn from the decomposer in excess of amount required to neutralize the decomposition catalyst and sufficient to adjust the pH of the product to from 5 to 9; so that dehydration of dimethyl phenyl carbinol to form alpha-methylstyrene is substantially avoided during the decomposition and distillation steps.

Provenance & Evidence