Patent ID: 7282613
Filing Date: 2007-10-16
Classification: C07C

Abstract:
1. A process for producing controllable yields of a combination of products selected from the group consisting of (a) phenol and methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) and (b) phenol, acetone, and MEK, said process comprising: feeding an oxidation feed to an oxidation reactor to produce an oxidation mixture, the oxidation feed comprising one or more alkylbenzenes selected from the group consisting of (a) a content of s-butylbenzene, and (b) a combination of s-butylbenzene and cumene at a weight ratio of cumene to s-butylbenzene; exposing the oxidation mixture to oxidation conditions effective to produce an oxidation product stream comprising product hydroperoxides selected from the group consisting of (a) s-butylbenzene hydroperoxide, and (b) a combination of s-butylbenzene hydroperoxide and cumene hydroperoxide; cleaving the product hydroperoxides under cleavage conditions effective to produce a cleavage product comprising a combination selected from the group consisting of (a) phenol and MEK, and (b) phenol, acetone, and MEK; and, separating the cleavage product under separation conditions effective to separate a crude phenol fraction comprising phenol and a crude ketone stream selected from the group consisting of (a) a crude MEK stream and (b) a crude acetone/MEK stream comprising MEK and acetone; and, recovering one or more products selected from the group consisting of (a) an MEK product and (b) a combination comprising an MEK product and an acetone product, wherein said oxidation conditions comprise feeding said oxidation mixture to a series of continuous oxidation reactors and feeding a source of molecular oxygen to the oxidation mixture.