Patent ID: 7186866
Filing Date: 2007-03-06
Classification: C07C

Abstract:
1. A process for recovering products from the decomposition of cumene hydroperoxide, the process comprising the steps of: a. feeding a crude product stream from the decomposition of cumene hydroperoxide to a first distillation column, and distilling the crude product stream to obtain a first overheads stream comprising acetone, cumene, alphamethylstyrene, acetol and 1 percent by weight or less of phenol, and a first bottoms stream comprising phenol, the first bottoms stream containing methylbenzofuran, 0.5 percent by weight or less of alphamethylstyrene, 50 ppm by weight or less of acetol and essentially no cumene; b. feeding the first overheads stream to a second distillation column, and distilling the first overheads stream to obtain a second overheads stream comprising acetone, cumene and alphamethylstyrene, and a second bottoms stream comprising cumene, alphamethylstyrene and essentially all of the acetol and phenol from the first overheads stream; c. feeding the second overheads stream to a third distillation column comprising a reaction zone and a separation zone, and distilling the second overheads stream in the presence of aqueous caustic, wherein a slip stream comprising acetone and products lighter than acetone is removed from the top of the separation zone and recycled to the reaction zone, to obtain a third overheads stream comprising acetone and a third bottoms stream comprising cumene and alphamethylstyrene; and d. feeding the second bottoms stream to a scrubber, wherein the second bottoms stream is contacted with an aqueous alkali metal hydroxide stream in counter-current flow to produce an aqueous effluent stream containing solubilized phenol, alkali metal phenate and acetol, and an organic effluent stream comprising cumene and alphamethylstyrene, wherein the organic effluent stream is essentially free of phenol and acetol.