Acetone → Phenol

Participants

Reaction Steps

More particularly, there is provided by the present invention a process for the production of bis-phenol-A comprising reacting phenol and acetone in the presence of a cation-exchange resin catalyst wherein all of the phenol required for reaction is charged at the beginning of the reactor and the acetone is injected along the reactor length resulting in a mixture of bis-phenol-A, phenol, acetone, water and phenol-acetone condensation by-products. The reactor effluent may then be treated by any conventional means to separate the bis-phenol-A from the by-products and also from the reactants so that they may be recycled, for example, separating a mixture of bisphenol-A and by-products from the phenol, acetone and water by evaporation/distillation; separating the water from the phenol and acetone by distillation/evaporation; returning substantially anhydrous phenol and acetone to the bisphenol-A reactor system; crystallizing the bisphenol-A in the presence of phenol to produce solid bisphenol-A: phenol adduct and a mother liquor containing phenol, bis-phenol-A, and condensation by-products; cracking a minor portion of the mother liquor to form phenol and cracking products; isomerizing a major portion of the mother liquor in the presence of an ion-exchange resin; recycling the isomerization products as well as the phenol from the cracking operation to the first bisphenol-A reactor to provide at least a portion of the feedstock; removing phenol from the solid BPA:phenol adduct by evaporation; crystallizing the crude BPA in the presence of water to yield BPA crystals; washing the BPA crystals with a suitable organic solvent to yield pure BPA product free of any impurities and color bodies.

Provenance & Evidence