Patent ID: 6965053

Claim:
A process for the production of an aromatic amine which comprises: a) feeding an aromatic compound having at least two nitro groups to a reaction zone and contacting the compound with a catalyst, wherein the catalyst is in the form of a suspension within the reaction zone; b) passing a reducing gas through the reaction zone to contact the gas with the said compound; c) reducing the nitro groups into amine groups in the presence of the catalyst, the catalyst comprising a supported active metal, until a conversion degree is reached at which the level of reaction intermediates is 30% or less by weight of the aromatic amine; d) discharging a first stream from the reaction zone and recycling the first stream to the reaction zone; e) discharging a second stream comprising the desired aromatic amine product and 30% or less by weight based on the aromatic amine of reaction intermediates from the reaction zone; f) recovering from the stream of step (e) the aromatic amine at a purity of over 99% and a mixture containing at least 50% of aromatic amine and up to 50% by weight of reaction intermediates; and g) feeding the mixture of step (f) to the reaction zone.