Patent ID: 9464020
Filing Date: 2016-10-11
CPC Classification: B01D,C07C,C09K

Claim Text:
1. A process for separating cyclohexanone and phenol, the process comprising: (a) feeding to a distillation column a mixture comprising (i) cyclohexanone, (ii) phenol, (iii) a solvent including at least two alcoholic hydroxyl groups attached to non-adjacent saturated carbon atoms, and (iv) at least one hemiketal defined by the formula (I) or the formula (II), and/or at least one enol-ether derived from the hemiketal defined by the formula (I) or the formula (II): wherein R 1 , the same or different at each occurrence, is independently an alkylene group having from 2 to 10 carbon atoms, R 2 is an alkylene group having from 4 to 10 carbon atoms, and R 3 is hydrogen or the following group: wherein the total concentration of the hemiketal and enol-ether in the mixture, expressed in terms of weight percentage on the basis of the total weight of the mixture, is at least 0.01%; and (b) distilling at least a portion of the mixture in the distillation column.