Patent ID: 8748479

Claim:
A process for purifying a crude furan 2,5-dicarboxylic acid composition (cFDCA) comprising: a) providing a cFDCA composition comprising furan 2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA) solids, 5-formyl furan-2-carboxylic acid (FFCA), and a liquid oxidation solvent composition; b) separating at least a portion of the oxidation solvent from the FDCA solids in the cFDCA composition in a first solid-liquid separation zone to generate a concentrated cFDCA composition comprising FDCA solids and enriched in the concentration of solids relative to the concentration of solids in the cFDCA composition fed to the first solid-liquid separation zone; c) feeding the concentrated cFDCA composition to a dissolution zone in which a hydrogenation solvent composition is combined with the FDCA solids in the concentrated cFDCA composition and dissolving at least a portion of said FDCA solids to thereby produce a solvated FDCA composition (sFDCA) comprising dissolved furan 2,5-dicarboxylic acid (FDCA), a hydrogenation solvent, and 5-formyl furan-2-carboxyic acid (FFCA); d) subjecting the sFDCA composition to a hydrogenation reaction in a hydrogenation reaction zone under conditions sufficient to cause hydrogenation of at least a portion of FFCA in the sFDCA composition to generate a hydrogenated FDCA composition (hFDCA) comprising dissolved FDCA and the hydrogenation solvent; and e) crystallizing the hFDCA composition in a purified crystallization zone to generate a crystallized hFDCA composition comprising liquid and FDCA solids; and f) separating at least a portion of the liquid from the FDCA solids in the crystallized hFDCA composition in a second solid-liquid separation zone to thereby generate a purified FDCA composition (pFDCA) enriched in the concentration of FDCA solids relative to the concentration of FDCA solids in the crystallized hFDCA composition.