Patent ID: 9302974
Filing Date: 2016-04-05
CPC Classification: B01D,C07C

Claim Text:
1. A process for producing acetic acid comprising: providing a reaction system comprising a reactor and a flash vessel; forming a reaction medium in the reactor; separating the reaction medium in the flash vessel into a liquid recycle stream and a vapor product stream; distilling at least a portion of the vapor product stream in a first column to obtain a side stream and a low boiling overhead vapor stream comprising more than 5 wt. % water; condensing and biphasically separating at least a portion of the low boiling overhead stream to form a heavy liquid phase and a light liquid phase; controlling a recycle rate of the light liquid phase to the reaction system to maintain a water concentration in the side stream from 1 to 3 wt. % water and hydrogen iodide concentration in the side stream of up to 50 wppm; and distilling at least a portion of the side stream in a second column to obtain a purified acetic acid product.