Patent ID: 7692037

Claim:
A process for the production of terephthalic acid, said process comprising: (a) forming a three-phase medium from the oxidation of para-xylene to terephthalic acid having a height H in a reaction zone having a height L of a bubble column reactor; (b) withdrawing at least a portion of said three-phase medium from within said height H and then introducing said portion that was withdrawn from said three-phase medium into a deaeration vessel having one or more generally upright sidewalls defining a deaeration zone, wherein the maximum horizontal cross-sectional area of said deaeration zone is less than 25 percent of the maximum horizontal cross-sectional area of said reaction zone; and separating at least a portion of the gas phase of said three-phase medium from the solid and liquid phases of said medium in said deaeration zone to thereby form a disengaged gas and a substantially deaerated slurry, wherein said separating is caused primarily by the natural buoyancy of said gas phase in said solid and liquid phases, and wherein at least a portion of the disengaged gas is returned to the bubble column reactor and/or to an overhead vapor stream removed from the bubble column reactor and recovering terephthalic acid from said deaerated slurry.