Patent ID: 7238833

Claim:
A process for the production of an aromatic carboxylic acid, said aromatic carboxylic acid having a carboxylic acid moiety that is directly attached to an aromatic ring structure consisting of carbon atoms, said process using an aqueous solvent comprising water under supercritical conditions or near supercritical conditions, wherein said process comprises contacting one or more precursors of the aromatic carboxylic acid with an oxidant that is dissolved in the aqueous solvent, in the presence of an oxidation catalyst comprising one or more metal compounds, wherein the metal or metals in the one or more metal compounds is or are selected from the group consisting of cobalt, manganese, vanadium, chromium, iron, molybdenum, cerium, zirconium, hafnium, nickel, platinum and palladium, within a reaction zone of a continuous flow reactor, further wherein: (a) the solvent, the oxidant, the catalyst and the one or more precursors are first contacted, simultaneously, in said reaction zone; and (b) at least the one or more precursors, the oxidant and the solvent form a homogeneous fluid phase at some point in said reaction zone, and further wherein the one or more precursors, the solvent, the oxidant, and the catalyst are contacted in said reaction zone of the reactor for no more than 10 minutes.