Hoechst Celanese Corporation

Celanese Gmbh

Edward M De La Garza

Thomas M Kenesson

Charles B Hilton

Daniel D Lindley

Thomas A Curtis

Timothy R Ryan

Olan S Fruchey

Carrie A Feeney

Bennett C Ward

B Frank Wood

Michael R Ahern

Ida L Jones

Charles R Hilton

James L Ragan

Kan J Tsai

Thomas L Grantland

Gregory M Adams

Processes for recovering 4,4'-dimethyl bibenzoate (DMBB) from byproduct streams of dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) production are disclosed. The byproduct streams are treated to produce an overhead stream which includes DMBB. In one aspect of the invention, the overhead product stream is added to an organic solvent under conditions sufficient to rapidly form a suspension of crystallized DMBB. In another aspect of the invention, the overhead is dissolved in an appropriate organic solvent and cooled to form a suspension of DMBB crystals in the solvent. A portion of the suspension is removed, and the remaining portion of the suspension centrifuged to recover DMBB crystals. In still another aspect of the invention, the overhead stream is treated with an organic solvent to form a slurry of DMBB crystals, and the resultant slurry thermally treated to increase the concentration of DMBB crystals therein while also solubilizing any organic contaminants.

Processes for cystallizing 4, 4'-dimethyl bibenzoate (DMBB) recovered

A continuous process is disclosed for the acylation or alkylation of aromatic compounds in hydrogen fluoride. The aromatic compound is sufficiently insoluble in hydrogen fluoride that a two phase reaction medium forms. However, surprisingly, the product acylated or alkylated aromatic compound is soluble in hydrogen fluoride. The present invention particularly relates to use of a continuous, multi-stage process for carrying out the acylation or alkylation reaction. In the multi-stage process, the continuous phase can be either the hydrogen-fluoride rich phase or the aromatic compound-rich phase. The movement of the continuous phase relative to the non-continuous (dispersed) phase can be countercurrent or concurrent. The multi-stage process can be operated in a manner such that the aromatic compound feed to the reaction is entirely consumed or such that unreacted aromatic compound is recycled.

Process for acylation or alkylation of aromatic compounds in hydrogen

A continuous process is provided for the production of 4'-isobutylacetophenone (4-IBAP) comprising feeding liquid hydrogen fluoride (HF) and an acetylating agent into an extractor-reactor to form a first, HF-rich phase containing the acetylating agent, feeding isobutylbenzene (IBB) to the extractor-reactor to form a second, IBB-rich phase which is contacted with said first, HF-rich phase in a manner such that the acetylating agent reacts with IBB to form 4-IBAP which is extracted into the first, HF-rich phase, and a light IBB-rich second phase containing the bulk of unreacted IBB, externally recycling said second, IBB-rich phase to the IBB feed point in combination with fresh IBB to make up for IBB consumed in the reaction and that and dissolved in the HF-rich phase, and withdrawing HF-rich phase containing 4-IBAP from the extractor-reactor.

Process for the production of 4'-isobutylacetophenone

A process is described for recovering water soluble copper and manganese compounds from an aqueous solution by reacting the copper and manganese compounds with saturated aliphatic monocarboxylic acids containing 5 to 9 carbon atoms at elevated temperatures forming cupric and manganous alkanoates containing 5 to 9 carbon atoms, and simultaneously removing the water by distillation in the presence of sufficient oxygen-containing gas to prevent the copper from plating on the distillation equipment, recovering the cupric and manganese alkanoates.

Copper and manganese oxidation catalysts recovery from aqueous solutions

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Corpus Christi, TX, United States of America

Edward M De La Garza