The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 02, 2002
Filed:
Jun. 21, 2001
Rolf Lanze, Krefeld, DE;
Rainer Neumann, Krefeld, DE;
Steffen Kühling, Meerbusch, DE;
Frieder Heydenreich, Düsseldorf, DE;
Tony Van Osselaer, Krefeld, DE;
Bayer Aktiengesellschaft, Leverkusen, DE;
Abstract
A process of preparing bisphenol A having low residual contents of oxygen and phenol is described. The process involves: (a) melting mixed crystals of bisphenol A and phenol under a nitrogen atmosphere at a temperature of 100° C. to 120° C.; (b) feeding continuously the melt formed in step (a) into the top of a distillation unit under conditions of 120° C. to <160° C. and a pressure of >80 mbar to 200 mbar; (c) feeding contemporaneously with step (b) nitrogen into the bottom of the distillation unit; (d) allowing the melted feed material and the nitrogen feed to contact each other within the distillation unit, thereby forming a concentrated melt material having (i) a phenol content reduced to 10 to 25 wt. %, and (ii) a reduced oxygen content (e.g., an oxygen content of <1 ppm); and (e) optionally passing a stream of nitrogen through the concentrated melt material under conditions of at least atmospheric pressure, 180° C. to 220° C. and a nitrogen partial pressure of 1 to 1.5 bar, thereby removing residual phenol from the concentrated melt material (e.g., resulting in a phenol content of <50 ppm). The melted material having reduced oxygen and phenol contents may be further processed, for example, into pellets.