Alliedsignal Inc.

Allied Corporation

Chong H Chan

Lamberto Crescentini

Everett H Hinton, Jr

William B Fisher

Laszlo J Balint, Deceased

Joseph D Shrom

A process for separating phenol obtained by the decomposition of cumene hydroperoxide from high boiling impurities, includes the following steps: a) feeding phenol rectification bottoms comprising phenol, acetophenone, cumylphenol, alpha-methylstyrene dimers and high boiler residues to a first phenol freeing distillation column A; b) feeding concentrated bottoms with substantially reduced phenol content from column A to a second residue concentration distillation column B; c) withdrawing a stream rich in compounds boiling between phenol and residue, particularly cumylphenol, from said column B from a point below the feed and returning at least a portion of said stream to said column A at a point above the feed; d) recovering overheads from column A comprising at least 95 weight percent phenol; and e) recovering acetophenone-rich overheads from column B comprising at least 70 weight percent acetophenone.

Removal of acetophenone from phenol purification residues

The process for rectification of phenol prepared from crude phenol being the product of decomposition of cumene hydroperoxide and having previously been distilled to remove large portions of acetone, cumene and alpha methylstyrene which includes:

High quality phenol rectification with energy recovery

This invention is a process for purifying crude acetone obtained by cleavage of cumene hydroperoxide, said crude acetone containing aldehyde impurities and appreciable amounts of unreacted cumene, by fractionally distilling the acetone in a multiple plate distillation column, said process comprising: continuously feeding crude acetone; continuously feeding a dilute aqueous solution of an alkaline material at a point above the crude acetone feed point; and controlling the temperature profile of the column by adjusting the amount of liquid acetone removed in step (c) to maintain a preselected temperature on a plate in the region between the crude acetone feed point and the alkaline material feed point.

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Richmond, VA, United States of America

Chong H Chan