Process for producing benzyl alcohol

Abstract: A process is provided wherein benzyl alcohol which cannot readily be isolated and purified from the hydrolysis product of benzyl acetate can be produced economically by constructing an isolation-purification process in consideration of the azeotropy of the components including benzyl alcohol and acetic acid as hydrolysis products, unreacted benzyl acetate and water, and recycling the process fractions to the specified process, and by using, as the catalyst, a sulfonated styrenedivinylbenzene copolymer having divinylbenzene units in a specified content range, and by reacting the starting materials in a specific ratio. Moreover, according to the present application, benzyl alcohol can be produced economically by transesterification of benzyl acetate with methanol in the presence of a basic catalyst, and combining process fractions reasonably in consideration of the later isolation-purification process.

Description: The present invention relates to a process for producing benzyl alcohol. Benzyl acetate itself is useful as a solvent and a perfume. Benzyl alcohol which is derived from the benzyl acetate by hydrolysis or by transesterification with methanol is an important compound useful as a powerful solvent, a nontoxic medical additive, and an intermediate compound for agricultural chemicals and medicines. For industrial production of benzyl acetate, a process is known in which benzyl chloride produced by chlorination of toluene is hydrolyzed by alkali, and the resulting benzyl alcohol is esterified with acetic acid. This process comprises multistage reactions, and includes many steps of separation and purification after the respective reactions. Therefore, the process is complex and is not advantageous economically. Moreover, in the hydrolysis reaction of the second step, an alkali such as sodium hydroxide is required in an equivalent amount or more, and a large amount of a salt containing organic compounds is formed as the by-product, which involves problems in after-treatment thereof. In a process not industrially conducted, benzyl acetate is produced by reaction of toluene, acetic acid, and oxygen in the presence of a catalyst for oxyacetoxylation. This process produces benzyl acetate in one step reaction without formation of a by-product salt, so that it is advantageous economically and can be of low environmental load. Many techniques of benzyl acetate production have been disclosed, for example, in JP-B-42-13081, JP-A-52-151135, JP-A-52-151136, JP-B-50-28947, JP-B-52-16101, and JP-A-63-174950 (The term "JP-A" herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application", and the term "JP-B" herein'means an "examined Japanese patent publication"). However, in these techniques, detailed studies are not made on industrial production process including separation and purification of benzyl acetate. Therefore, known techniques are not satisfactory for production of high-purity benzyl acetate. On the other hand, benzyl alcohol can be produced by the known processes below. Of these, the processes (1) and (3) are practiced industrially: (1) Hydrolysis of benzyl chloride by sodium hydroxide, (2) Hydrolysis of benzyl acetate in the presence of a catalyst, and (3) Reduction of benzaldehyde by hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst. The above processes (1) and (2) both produces benzyl alcohol by hydrolysis. The process (1) consumes an equivalent amount or more of sodium hydroxide for stoichiometric reaction of benzyl chloride, involving a problem of after-treatment of a large amount of an aqueous solution of organic compound-containing sodium chloride formed as a by-product. The process (3) employs relatively expensive benzaldehyde as the starting material, and is disadvantageous economically. The process (2) of hydrolysis of benzyl acetate to produce benzyl alcohol forms useful acetic acid as the by-product without discharging waste water, thus being economical and of low environmental load. Regarding this hydrolysis process, a method is disclosed in which a mixture of water and benzyl acetate in a volume ratio of water/benzyl acetate of 25 is hydrolyzed at a temperature of 20-30°C in the presence of Amberlite IR-100, a sulfonic acid type cation-exchange resin (J. Chem. Soc., No.5, 1952, 1607). However, in this process, the catalyst activity is low, and an extremely large amount of water is required, so that the starting material concentration is lowered. Therefore, this process is not industrially advantageous in consideration of the energy for removal of unreacted water from the liquid reaction mixture. Further, the above disclosure does not specifically disclose the method for isolation and purification of the resulting benzyl alcohol. In another process (Russian Patent: SU1077875), benzyl alcohol of high purity (98%) is obtained at an improved yield by hydrolysis of benzyl acetate in a flow system at a temperature of 90-98°C at water/benzyl acetate ratio of 3 (by weight) through a porous sulfonic acid type cation-exchange resin containing 2.2-4.0 m-equivalent/g of nitro group by replacing acetic acid with water during the reaction. However, this process, which requires use of a special nitro group-containing resin as the catalyst, is not practical as an industrial process in view of the catalyst cost. EP-A-0 110 629 describes a process for the transesterification of a carboxylic or carbonic acid ester which process comprises reacting the carboxylic or carbonic acid ester under transesterification conditions with an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst characterised in that the catalyst is either (1) a Group V element-containing Lewis base and an epoxide or (ii) a cyclic amidine. EP-0 230 286 describes a method of synthesizing esters, comprising reacting a carboxylic acid with an alcohol, an ester with a carboxylic acid, or an ester with an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst in a gaseous or liquid phase; characterized in that the catalyst comprises a partially dehydrated solid of a metal hydroxide whose metal belongs to Group III or IV of the Periodic Table. As discussed above, the benzyl alcohol production process has not yet been investigated sufficiently for industrialization including the separation and purification steps, and no process is satisfactory as the process for producing high-purity benzyl alcohol. An object of the present invention is to provide a process for economical production of benzyl alcohol of high purity. As a solution of the above-described problems, it has been found that benzyl alcohol can be produced economically by transesterification of benzyl acetate with methanol in the presence of a basic catalyst, and combining process fractions reasonably in consideration of the later isolation-purification process. Fig. 1 is a flow sheet showing specifically an example of a process of transesterification in the production process of benzyl alcohol of the present invention. The process for producing benzyl alcohol by transesterification of benzyl acetate with methanol according to the present invention is explained below. In the method of the present invention, benzyl acetate is fed to the upper portion of a reaction-distillation column, and methanol is fed to the lower portion of the reaction-distillation column, and the benzyl acetate and the methanol are brought into contact countercurrently in the presence of a basic catalyst to cause transesterification to produce benzyl alcohol. In the reaction, an impurity in the starting material may lower the reaction rate or cause clogging. For example, when sodium methylate is used as the basic catalyst, an acidic substance such as benzoic acid and acetic acid, or water in the starting materials may form sodium benzoate, or sodium acetate as shown by the reaction formulas below. C 6 H 5 COOH + CH 3 ONa → C 6 H 5 COONa + CH 3 OH CH 3 COOCH 3 + H 2 O → CH 3 COOH + CH 3 OH C 6 H 5 CH 2 OCOCH 3 + H 2 O → CH 3 COOH + C 6 H 5 CH 2 OH CH 3 COOH + CH 3 ONa → CH 3 COONa + CH 3 OH Such a sodium salt is nearly insoluble in the benzyl acetate as the starting material and methyl acetate as a by-product of transesterification, may deposit and scale around the benzyl acetate feed plate where the concentrations of benzyl acetate and methyl acetate are high to cause flooding trouble. Furthermore, since these reactions involve the catalyst (sodium methylate), the catalyst itself may be inactivated or consumed to decelerate the reaction. When sodium hydroxide is used as the catalyst, similar reactions occur as those with sodium methylate. Therefore, the benzyl acetate and methanol as the starting material contain desirably less concentrations of acidic substances such as benzoic acid and acetic acid, and a less concentration of water. The allowable concentrations of such impurities depend on the mole ratio of methanol to benzyl acetate, catalyst concentration, and concentrations of the respective impurities, and is not limited specially. For example, the benzoic acid concentration in benzyl acetate is usually not higher than 0.05% by weight, preferably not higher than 0.03% by weight, still more preferably not higher than 0.02% by weight. The acetic acid concentration in benzyl acetate is usually not higher then 0.1% by weight, preferably 0.05% by weight, still more preferably not higher than 0.03% by weight. The water concentration in benzyl acetate is usually not higher then 0.05% by weight, preferably 0.03% by weight, still more preferably not higher than 0.02% by weight. The water concentration in methanol is usually not higher than 0.2% by weight, preferably 0.1% by weight, still more preferably not higher than 0.05% by weight. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the benzyl acetate as the starting material is produced by the oxyacetoxylation as described in EP-B-0 778 257. The methanol is recovered by hydrolysis of methyl acetate formed in the transesterification as the by-product, and distillation by a methanol recovery column. Methanol is also recovered from the bottom of the reaction distillation column by distillation through a methanol separation column. The both kinds of methanol is recycled to the reactor. Therefore, replenishment of methanol is only a small amount corresponding to the operation loss. The basic catalyst in the present invention includes alkali metal hydroxides such as sodium hydroxide, and potassium hydroxide; and alcoholates such as sodium alcoholate, and potassium alcoholate. These basic catalysts are solid. Therefore the catalyst is fed in a state of a solution in alcohol. The alcohol used in the transesterification reaction is not limited to methanol. However, methanol is the most suitable in consideration of the solubility of the catalyst, and the separation of the alcohol from water after the hydrolysis of acetate ester formed in the transesterification. Accordingly, as the alcohol for dissolving the catalyst, methanol is the most suitable. Otherwise, the catalyst may be used as a solution in benzyl alcohol. The required amount of the catalyst depends on the kind of the catalyst, and cannot generally be specified. Although a larger amount of the catalyst is advantageous to raise the reaction rate, it may cause deposition of the salt as described before. The amount of the catalyst should be decided in consideration of the above matters. For example, sodium hydroxide as the catalyst is used in an amount of from 0.01 to 1% by weight, preferably from 0.02 to 0.2% by weight to the starting benzyl acetate. Sodium methylate as the catalyst is used in an amount corresponding to that of sodium hydroxide multiplied by the molecular weight ratio (54/40). The reaction distillation column may be of a conventional type, such as a packed column and a plate column, and is not specially limited. The'catalyst is fed to the reaction distillation column preferably at the benzyl acetate feed position (feed plate) or a higher position (upper plate). In the reaction distillation column, preferably, the zone of the column between the methanol feed position and the benzyl acetate feed position is employed as a reaction section; the zone above the benzyl acetate feed position is employed as an enriching section; and the zone below the methanol feed position is employed as a distillation-separation section called a stripping section. The enriching section serves to keep benzyl acetate, a starting material, and benzyl alcohol, the product below the column top. The stripping section serves to keep the produced methyl acetate above the column bottom. Benzyl acetate and benzyl alcohol, which have respectively a boiling point higher sufficiently than the distilling components, namely methyl acetate and methanol, can readily be separated from the distilling components. Therefore, not so many plates are required for the stripping section. The size of the reaction section is decided in consideration of the residence time of benzyl acetate as the starting material, and the theoretical plate number of distillation. The required residence time depends on the gas-liquid contact efficiency in the column, the catalyst concentration, the mole ratio of methanol to benzyl acetate, and the reaction temperature, and is not specially limited. A longer residence time, and a larger theoretical plate number do not retard the reaction, but are not economical. Accordingly, the residence time is preferably in the range of from 1 to 60 minutes, and the total theoretical plate number of the reaction-separation column is preferably in the range of from 3 to 50 plates. Benzyl alcohol is relatively stable to heat. However, the benzyl alcohol is preferably not brought to high temperature in the presence of the catalyst or the sodium salt. Thus the column bottom temperature of the reaction distillation column is kept preferably at a temperature lower than the normal boiling point of benzyl alcohol by discharging a part of methanol from the bottom. The operation pressure of the reaction-distillation column is not specially limited. However, in consideration of the vapor pressures of methyl acetate and methanol which are main components at the column top, operation at an atmospheric pressure is most reasonable and economical. The temperature of the respective portions of the column is a function of the operation pressure, the feed mole ratio of benzyl acetate and methanol, the catalyst concentration, the temperature or the composition of the column bottom, the plate numbers of the respective sections, and the reflux ratio. The feed amount of methanol is equimolar to the starting benzyl acetate or larger. However, with excessively larger amount of methanol, a larger amount of methanol is delivered together with produced methyl acetate to the hydrolysis process, and the increase of the recycled methanol increases energy consumption. Therefore, the feed mole ratio of methanol to the starting benzyl acetate is in the range of usually from 1.1 to 10, preferably from 1.5 to 5. In the present invention, the mixture obtained from the bottom of the reaction-distillation column and mainly composed of benzyl alcohol and methanol is introduced to a methanol separation column, and is subjected to distillation. The column top distillate mainly composed of methanol is recycled to the reaction-distillation column. In this distillation, when methanol contains a larger amount of water, the distillation is controlled preferably to bring the water into the benzyl alcohol fraction at the column bottom. The methanol separation column may be of any conventional type. The operation pressure of the methanol separation column is not specially limited. However, the column is operated preferably under a reduced pressure to keep the benzyl alcohol at or below the normal boiling point as mentioned above. Benzyl alcohol and methanol can be separated with less number of the plates at lower reflux ratio because of the remarkably high relative volatility thereof. Therefore, as an effective methanol separation process, methanol may be distilled out without consideration of the water concentration of the distilled methanol; the water-containing methanol is dehumidified through a dehumidification column packed with a water adsorbent such as silica gel, zeolite, and active carbon; and then the dehumidified methanol is recycled to the reaction-distillation column. The column bottom liquid mainly composed of benzyl alcohol of the methanol separation column is introduced to an alcohol purification column. Before introduction to the alcohol purification column, the column bottom liquid of the methanol separation column is preferably concentrated by a solid separator to remove, from the liquid by deposition, the solid matter such as sodium benzoate, sodium acetate, and catalyst dissolved in the liquid, and the evaporate is introduced to the alcohol purification column. In the alcohol purification column, low-boiling impurities including methanol, water, benzaldehyde, and the like are removed from the column top, the product benzyl alcohol is taken out from the middle portion of the column, and the column bottom liquid is recycled to the solid separator. The solid separator and the alcohol purification column are operated under a reduced pressure in consideration of the thermal stability of benzyl alcohol. The type of the solid separator is not specially limited, and exemplified by an evaporator equipped with an inside scraper, and a thin film'evaporator. The alcohol separation column may be divided into two columns: an impurity separation column, and an alcohol purification column. In such a two-column alcohol separation system, impurities including methanol, water, and benzaldehyde are removed from the top of the impurity separation column, and the bottom liquid thereof is introduced to the alcohol purification column, where benzyl alcohol as the product is taken out from the top of alcohol purification column, and the bottom liquid is recycled to the solid separator. The mixture coming out from the top.of the reaction-distillation column is mainly composed of methyl acetate and methanol, and is introduced to the middle portion of an extractive distillation column. In the extractive distillation column, distillation is conducted with water fed to the upper portion of the column, and from the top of the column, a mixture composed mainly of methyl acetate and water is taken out. This column top distillate is preferably introduced together with the distillate of the acetic acid recovery column and water to a hydrolysis reactor for hydrolysis treatment. The bottom liquid composed mainly of water and methanol of the extractive distillation column is distilled by a methanol recovery column. The column top distillate of the methanol recovery column is recycled to the reaction-distillation column, and the water recovered from the column bottom is recycled to the extractive distillation column. The hydrolyzed mixture leaving the hydrolysis reactor is introduced to a methyl acetate recovery column, and is distilled. The mixture composed mainly of unreacted methyl acetate and methanol coming off from the top of the methyl acetate recovery column is recycled to the extractive distillation column, and the mixture composed mainly of water and acetic acid obtained from the bottom of the methyl acetate recovery column is introduced to an acetic acid recovery column. The distillate mainly composed of water or aqueous acetic acid coming off from the column top of the acetic acid recovery column is recycled to the hydrolysis reactor. The extractive distillation column, the methanol recovery column, the methyl acetate recovery column, and the acetic acid recovery column respectively are of any conventional type. The ratio of the amount of water to be fed to the extractive distillation column relative to the amount of the mixture composed mainly of methyl acetate and methanol introduced form the reaction-distillation column is in the range of usually from 0.05 to 5 by weight, preferably from 0.1 to 1 by weight. With a less amount of water, the methanol concentration is higher in the distillate, and the methyl acetate concentration is higher in the column bottom liquid. With a larger amount of water, energy consumption increases uneconomically. The water content of the methanol recovered from the top of the methanol recovery column is preferably as low as possible, and is usually not higher than 0.2% by weight, preferably not higher than 0.1% by weight, more preferably not higher than 0.05% by weight. The methanol concentration of the bottom liquid composed mainly of water of the methanol recovery column is not specially limited, but is desirably lower in order not to increase the amount of water introduced in the extractive distillation column and to decrease the recycling methanol. The amount of water to be fed to the hydrolysis reactor depends on the amounts of the methyl acetate and methanol, and the hydrolysis ratio. The molar percentage of water to the methyl acetate is in the range of usually from 1 to 10, preferably from 1 to 5. The hydrolysis reaction catalyst include liquid acids such as sulfuric acid, phosphoric acid, and alkylsulfonic acid, and solid acids such as acidic cation exchange resin, silica, silica-alumina, and acid clay. Of these, acidic cation exchange resin is suitable in view of ease of handling after the reaction, and the apparatus construction materials. The hydrolysis reactor may be any of stirring types, fixed bed types, and column types. For use of an acidic cation exchange resin as the catalyst, a fixed bed type reactor is suitable in which the catalyst is not damaged. In another preferred embodiment, the acidic cation exchange resin molded into a shape causing less pressure drop or held in a container is incorporated in the distillation column to conduct the reaction and the distillation in one and the same column by reaction-distillation system, thereby the methyl acetate recovery column being omitted advantageously. The size of the apparatus depends on the required contact time. For a usual fixed bed type reactor, the contact time is in the range of usually from 0.03 to 10 hours, preferably from 0.1 to 5 hours. The reaction temperature is preferably in the range of from 50 to 120°C in view of the reaction rate and heat resistance of the acidic cation exchange resin. The operation pressure of the reactor is not specially limited, but is usually in the range of from 1 to 5 atmosphere in terms of absolute pressure. In the methyl acetate recovery column, the methyl acetate and methanol can be separated readily since the boiling point difference is sufficiently large between the distillate constituted mainly of methyl acetate and methanol and the column bottom liquid composed mainly of acetic acid and water. Therefore, the plate number and the reflux ratio are selected from the standpoint of economy. According to the present invention, the water distilled from the acetic acid recovery column is recycled to the hydrolysis reactor. This recycled water may contain acetic acid in a small amount in consideration of the process economy. In the production of benzyl alcohol according to the present invention, the benzyl acetate is not limited in the production process thereof. For example, the benzyl acetate can be produced by oxyacetoxylation of toluene with acetic acid and oxygen continuously and efficiently by the process described in EP-B-0 778 257 to produce high-purity benzyl acetate, and high-purity benzyl alcohol. In the process employing oxyacetoxylation, the acetic acid recovered from the bottom the acetic acid recovery column is recycled to the oxyacetoxylation reactor. The embodiment of the transesterification process of the present invention is described below by reference to drawings. The embodiment includes various modifications, and the invention is not limited to the embodiment shown by the drawing. Fig. 1 shows an example of the transesterification process of the present invention. Benzyl acetate is fed to an upper portion of a reaction-distillation column 21, and methanol is fed to a lower portion of the same column 21, whereby the benzyl acetate and the methanol is brought into contact countercurrently in the presence of a basic catalyst to cause transesterification reaction. Most portion of the methanol as the starting material is furnished by recycle of the methanol recovered from the column top of a methanol-separation column 22 of the later step and the methanol recovered from the column top of a methanol-recovery column 26 of the methyl acetate hydrolysis process, and small amount of methanol is replenished to make up an operation loss. The water concentration of the methanol is preferably controlled as described above. The basic catalyst is fed to the same position as the benzyl acetate feed or a higher position than that. An enriching section comprising several plates is preferably provided above the benzyl acetate feed plate. By feeding the catalyst above the benzyl acetate feed plate, the reaction is caused also in the enriching section, which enables decrease of the enriching section plate number and of the reflux ratio corresponding to the reaction contribution in the enriching section. The intended benzyl alcohol produced by the transesterification is discharged together with a part of excess methanol from the column of the reaction-distillation column 21, and is introduced to methanol separation column 22. The methanol separated by the distillation is discharged from the column top, and is recycled to the reaction-distillation column 21. When water is present in the methanol, the distillation conditions are preferably controlled to keep the water concentration in the methanol below the prescribed level. The column bottom liquid of the methanol separation column 22 is introduced to a solid separator 23, where the liquid is concentrated to separate a solid. The solid separator 23 is exemplified by a thin film evaporator having a solid-scraper. The vapor evaporated by the solid separator 23 is a mixture composed mainly of benzyl alcohol, and does not contain a solid component unless entrainment occurs. The vapor is introduced to an alcohol purification column 24. From the top of the purification column 24, low-boiling impurities are removed. High-purity benzyl alcohol is taken out from the middle portion of the alcohol purification column 24, and the bottom liquid of the column 24 is recycled to the solid separator 23. Naturally, the alcohol purification column 24 may be divided into two columns: a first distillation column for separating low-boiling separation and a second distillation column for taking out the product from the column top. The mixture derived from the top of the reaction-distillation column 21 and composed mainly of methyl acetate and a part of excess methanol is introduced to the middle portion of an extractive distillation column 25 of the methyl acetate hydrolysis process. To the top of the extractive distillation column 25, the bottom liquid of a methanol recovery column 26 composed mainly of water is introduced to conduct extractive distillation of methanol with water. The mixture discharged from the bottom of the extractive distillation column 25 and composed mainly of water and methanol is introduced to the methanol recovery column 26. The mixture discharged from the bottom of the methanol recovery column 26 and composed mainly of water is recycled to the upper portion of the extractive distillation column 25. The distillate from the top of the methanol recovery column 26 and composed mainly of methanol is fed to the lower portion of the reaction-distillation column 21 together with the methanol recycled from methanol separation column 22 and the replenished methanol. The column top liquid of the extractive distillation column 25 composed mainly of methyl acetate and water is fed together with the column top liquid of the acetic acid recovery column 29 mainly composed of water or water and acetic acid, and replenished water to the hydrolysis reactor 27.. There, the methyl acetate is hydrolyzed. The effluent from the hydrolysis reactor 27 is introduced to a methyl acetate recovery column 28. By distillation in the methyl acetate recovery column 28, the mixture composed mainly of unhydrolyzed methyl acetate and methanol is taken out from the column top, and is recycled to the extractive distillation column 25. The bottom liquid of the methyl acetate recovery column 28 is introduced to an acetic acid recovery column 29. As described above according to the present invention, high-purity benzyl alcohol can be produced stably and economically by transesterification of benzyl acetate with methanol. The present invention is described in more detail by reference to examples. In the description below, "%" is based on weight, benzyl alcohol is denoted by "BzOH", and benzyl acetate is denoted by "BzOAc". Example 1 This example is described by reference to Fig. 1. Benzyl acetate of 99.7% purity (containing benzaldehyde: 0.03%, benzyl alcohol: 0.24 %, acetic acid: 0.01%, benzoic acid: 0.01%, and water: 0.01%) was fed. continuously at a rate of 427 g/h to the top of a reaction-distillation column 21 (having 30 plates: 25 plates for the reactor portion). Methanol recovered from the top of a methanol separation column 22 and the top of a methanol recovery column 26, and replenished methanol were fed to the fifth plate of the reaction distillation column 21 at a total feed rate of 242 g/h (fed methanol containing methyl acetate: 0.16%, and water: 0.01%). Further, as the catalyst, a methanol solution containing 2% sodium methylate was fed to the top of the column at a feed rate of 13.8 g/h. The operation temperature of the bottom of the column was 96.0°C. From the bottom of the reaction-distillation column, the reaction mixture was obtained at a rate of 349 g/h (composed of benzyl alcohol: 86.8%, and methanol: 13.1%). The gas chromatogram of this reaction mixture showed only a trace of the peak of starting benzyl acetate. The reaction mixture was introduced to a methanol separation column 22, and distillation was conducted to obtain methanol as the distillate at a rate of 44 g/h. This methanol was recycled to the reaction-distillation column 21. The bottom liquid of the methanol separation column 22 was stored in a receiver. 5.0 Kilograms of the bottom liquid was charged to a solid separator 23 of a rotary thin film evaporator type, and was evaporated and concentrated by changing the pressure stepwise from 46.7 to 13.3 kPa (350 to 100 Torr) to obtain 4.9 kg of benzyl alcohol of 99.8% purity. From the top of the reaction distillation column 21, a distillate was obtained at a rate of 334 g/h (the distillate composed of methyl acetate: 62.5%, methanol: 35.7%, benzyl acetate: 0.9%, and benzyl alcohol: 0.9%). This distillate was combined with the distillate of the methyl acetate recovery column 28, and the mixture was introduced to the middle portion of an extractive distillation column 25. Extractive distillation was conducted with feeding of water from the top of the column at a feed rate of 177 g/h. The bottom liquid of the extractive distillation was introduced to the methanol recovery column 26, and distilled. The distillate (composed of methanol: 99.8%, and methyl acetate: 0.2%) discharged from the column top at a rate of 205 g/h was recycled to the reaction-distillation column 21. The distillate (635 g/h) from the top of the extractive distillation column 25 (composed of methyl acetate: 95.5%, methanol: 2.0%, and water: 2.5%) was mixed with the distillate (454 g/h) from the acetic acid recovery column 29 (composed of water: 69.6%, and acetic acid: 30.0%) and water (109 g/h), and the mixture was introduced to a hydrolysis reactor 27. The hydrolysis reactor 27 was a tube of an in side diameter of 4 cm, and height of 80 cm having a fixed glass bed, and was filled with 1000 mL of H-type Amberlite IR-120B (Japan Organo Co.,Ltd.), a commercial acidic cation exchange resin. The hydrolysis was conducted at 40°C. The reaction mixture discharged from the hydrolysis reactor 27 was introduced to a methyl acetate recovery column 28 and was distilled. The distillate (557 g/h) from the column top (composed of methyl acetate: 71.5%, methanol: 18.5%, and water: 10%) was recycled to the extractive distillation column 25, and the bottom liquid was introduced to an acetic acid recovery column 29, and was .distilled. The distillate from the acetic acid recovery column 29 was recycled to the hydrolysis reactor 27, and from the bottom, aqueous 90% acetic acid solution was recovered at a rate of 188 g/h.

Claims: A process for producing benzyl alcohol of high purity by transesterification of benzyl acetate with methanol in the presence of a basic catalyst, wherein benzyl acetate is fed to an upper portion of a reaction-distillation column and methanol is fed at a lower portion of the reaction-distillation column, bringing benzyl acetate and methanol into contact with each other countercurrently in the presence of the basic, catalyst to obtain a column top distillate composed mainly of methyl acetate and methanol, and a column bottom liquid composed mainly of methanol and benzyl alcohol; the column bottom liquid of the reaction distillation column is introduced to a methanol separation column for distillation to obtain a column top fraction composed mainly of methanol, and a column bottom fraction composed mainly of benzyl alcohol; the column top fraction of the methanol separation column is recycled to the reaction-distillation column; and the column bottom liquid is introduced to an alcohol purification column to obtain benzyl alcohol by distillation. The process according to claim 1, wherein the column bottom fraction of the methanol separation column is introduced to a solid separator to remove a solid matter therefrom, and then introduced to the alcohol purification column. The process according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the column top distillate of the reaction-distillation column is introduced to an extractive distillation column to obtain a column bottom liquid composed mainly of water and methanol; the column bottom liquid is introduced to a methanol recovery column for distillation to obtain a column top fraction composed mainly of methanol and a column bottom fraction composed mainly of water, the column top fraction is recycled to the reaction-distillation column, and the column bottom fraction is recycled to the extractive distillation column. The process according to claim 3, wherein the column top fraction of the extractive distillation column composed mainly of water and methyl acetate is introduced to a hydrolysis reactor, and methyl acetate is hydrolyzed by addition of water in the presence of an acidic catalyst to obtain a hydrolysis mixture; the hydrolysis mixture is introduced to a methyl acetate recovery column for distillation to obtain a column top liquid composed mainly of methyl acetate and methanol, and a column bottom liquid; the column top liquid is recycled to the extractive distillation column; the column bottom liquid is introduced to an acetic acid recovery column for distillation, and a column top distillate composed mainly of water is recycled to the hydrolysis reactor.

Inventors: HANAYA MAKOTO, HATTORI AKITAKA, HORI TAKASHI, IKUMI SHUNYA, MIYAKE TAKANORI, MIZUI NORIMASA, NAGIRA NOBUO, OKADA TAKASHI, HANAYA, MAKOTO, HATTORI, AKITAKA, HORI, TAKASHI, IKUMI, SHUNYA, MIYAKE, TAKANORI, MIZUI, NORIMASA, NAGIRA, NOBUO, OKADA, TAKASHI
Applicants: TOSOH CORP, TOSOH CORPORATION
Application year: 1996
Main classification: C07C29
IPC codes: C07C67, C07C27, C07C29, C07C69