Patent ID: 7977505

Claim:
A process comprising: (a) introducing a feed stream comprising para-xylene into a reaction zone of a bubble column reactor; (b) introducing one or more oxidant streams comprising molecular oxygen into said reaction zone, wherein said reaction zone has a maximum diameter (D), wherein a majority of said molecular oxygen enters said reaction zone within about 0.25 D of the bottom of said reaction zone; and (c) oxidizing at least a portion of said para-xylene in a liquid phase of a three-phase reaction medium contained in said reaction zone, wherein said oxidizing causes at least a portion of said para-xylene to form solid crude terephthalic particles in said reaction medium wherein each of said one or more oxidant streams introduced into the reaction zone has oxygen present in an amount ranging from 5 mole % to 40 mole % and wherein said reaction medium comprises in the range of from about 5 to about 40 weight percent solids on a time-averaged and volume-averaged basis.