Mitsui Petrochemical Industries, Ltd.

Honshu Chemical Ind. Co. Ltd.

Tadahiko Nishimura

Akio Kanazawa

Fujihisa Matsunaga

Masatoshi Yamamoto

Sekijiro Noda

Kiyotaka Banba

Yoshio Tomatsu

Etsuo Miyake

Hiroshi Yamamoto

Akira Mori

Masatoshi Osuo

Hiroshi Osuo

A process for continuously producing 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane having a high quality from a reaction of phenol and acetone in the presence of a hydrochloric acid containing catalyst comprising the steps of: (A) carrying out the reaction by continuously charging additional phenol, the below-mentioned circulating phenol, additional acetone, additional hydrogen chloride or hydrochloric acid, the below-mentioned circulating oily mother liquor, and the below-mentioned aqueous mother liquid into a reactor to form a reaction mixture slurry comprising the crude phenol adduct of 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane in the form of crystal and two liquid phase reaction mother liquors of an oily mother liquor and an aqueous mother liquor; (B) separating the reaction mixture slurry into the crude phenol adduct of 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane and the two liquid phase mother liquors after discharging the reaction mixture slurry from the reactor; (C) separating the two liquid phase mother liquors obtained in the above-mentioned step (B) into the oily mother liquor and the aqueous mother liquor, whereby the oily mother liquor is circulated as a circulating oily mother liquor to the reactor and the remaining portion of the aqueous mother liquor, after discharging a portion thereof, is circulated as a circulating aqueous mother liquor to the reactor; (D) dissolving the crude phenol adduct of 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane obtained in the above-mentioned step (B) in a phenol solvent and, after neutralizing the hydrogen chloride or hydrochloric acid contained in the crude phenol adduct with a base, crystallizing and separating the phenol adduct of 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane from the solution to obtain the purified phenol adduct of 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane; (E) decomposing the purified phenol adduct of 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane obtained in the above-mentioned step (D), on heating, to form a thermally decomposed product containing phenol and 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane; (F) recovering the phenol and 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane from the thermally decomposed product obtained in the above-mentioned step (E); and (G) circulating the phenol recovered in the above-mentioned step (F) to the reactor in the above-mentioned step (A) as a circulating phenol or to the above-mentioned step (D) as a phenol solvent.

Process for production of 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane

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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Iwakuni, Japan

Tadahiko Nishimura