Sulfuric Acid → Phenol

Participants

Reaction Steps

The oxidation effluent stream from the oxidation reactor 106, including cyclohexylbenzene hydroperoxide, is fed by line 110, along with a cleavage catalyst, such as sulfuric acid, in line 112 to a cleavage reactor 114. Conditions in the cleavage reactor 114 are such that cyclohexylbenzene hydroperoxide in the oxidation effluent stream is decomposed to produce phenol and cyclohexanone in a respective weight ratio of less than 2.57. The cleavage effluent stream from the cleavage reactor 114 is fed by line 116 to a separation device, for example, a conventional fractionation column 118. Fractionation column 118 is operated to divide the cleavage effluent into a first fraction composed of cyclohexanone (including, for example, no greater than 1000 wppm of phenol) that is removed in line 120 as an overhead of the fractionation column 118, and a second fraction including phenol and cyclohexanone that is removed in line 122 as a bottoms product of the fractionation column 118. The second fraction in line 122 has a phenol to cyclohexanone weight ratio that is greater than that of the cleavage effluent in line 116.

Provenance & Evidence