Mitsui Petrochemical Industries, Ltd.

Akio Kanazawa

Tadahiko Nishimura

Masatoshi Osuo

Masatoshi Yamamoto

Akira Mori

Sekijiro Noda

Hiroshi Yamamoto

Hiroshi Osuo

Yoshio Tomatsu

In an improved process for recovering a phenolic compound, the improvement comprising, subjecting a phenolic containing fraction recovered overhead in an extractive distillation, to a subsequent steam distillation; recovering the phenolic product as a bottoms fraction therefrom, and recycling such product to some point upstream in the process.

Process for producing phenolic compounds

In a process for producing a phenolic compound which comprises treating an aralkyl hydroperoxide with a mineral acid to cleave it to phenolic compound and a ketone, neutralizing or removing the mineral acid, feeding the resulting acid cleavage mixture containing the salt to a distillation column, distilling it therein to separate it into an overhead fraction consisting mainly of the ketone and a bottom fraction consisting mainly of the phenolic compound, and recovering the phenolic compound from the bottom fraction; the improvement which comprises withdrawing a liquid layer from a site of feeding the acid cleavage mixture in the distillation column or from a site below it but above the bottom of the distillation column, subjecting the liquid layer to an oil-water separating means, recycling the separated oil layer to a site below said site of withdrawal, optionally feeding a hydrocarbon having a lower boiling point than the phenolic compound but a higher boiling point than the keton and/or water to the distillation column, and recovering the phenolic compound from the bottom fraction whose salt content has thus been reduced.

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Ichihara, Japan

Akio Kanazawa