Recovery of materials from a mother liquor residue
View Patent ↗A process for recovery of materials from a mother liquor residue comprising cracking a mother liquor residue with an aromatic sulfonic acid catalyst to form a cracked product mixture and separating phenol from the cracked product mixture wherein the mother liquor residue results from distillation of a mother liquor resulting from bisphenol A synthesis and isolation.
1. A process for recovery of materials from a mother liquor residue comprising cracking the mother liquor residue with an aromatic sulfonic acid catalyst at a temperature of 100° C. to 300° C. and a pressure of 150 to 250 millimeters (mm) Hg to form a cracked product mixture, transferring the cracked product mixture to a distillation column and separating phenol from the cracked product mixture in the distillation column, wherein the mother liquor residue results from distillation of a mother liquor resulting from bisphenol A synthesis and isolation.
2. The process of claim 1 , wherein transferring the cracked product mixture to a distillation column comprises recycling the cracked product mixture to a distillation column which precedes the location used to perform cracking.
3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the distillation column is located after the location used to perform the cracking.
4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the aromatic sulfonic acid catalyst comprises p-toluenesulfonic acid or dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid.
5. The process of claim 1 , wherein the aromatic sulfonic acid catalyst is present in an amount of 100 to 10,000 parts per million by weight (ppm) of mother liquor residue.
6. The process of claim 1 , wherein cracking occurs at a temperature of 120° to 180° C.
7. The process of claim 1 , wherein cracking occurs at a pressure of 175 to 225 millimeters (mm) Hg.
8. The process of claim 1 , wherein the mother liquor residue comprises 70 to 80 weight percent bisphenol A and isomers of bisphenol A and 0.5 to 3 weight percent phenol.
9. The process of claim 1 , wherein greater than 50 weight percent of mother liquor residue is converted to phenol.
10. A process for recovery of materials from a mother liquor residue comprising cracking the mother liquor residue with an aromatic sulfonic acid catalyst at a temperature of 100° C. to 300° C. and a pressure of 150 to 250 millimeters (mm) Hg to form a cracked product mixture, transferring the cracked product mixture to a distillation column and separating phenol from the cracked product mixture in the distillation column wherein the mother liquor residue comprises 70 to 80 weight percent bisphenol A and isomers of bisphenol A and 0.5 to 3 weight percent phenol and results from distillation of a mother liquor resulting from bisphenol A synthesis and isolation and further wherein greater than 50 weight percent of mother liquor residue is converted to phenol.
11. A process for making bisphenol A comprising cracking a mother liquor residue with an aromatic sulfonic acid catalyst at a temperature of 100° C. to 300° C. and a pressure of 150 to 250 millimeters (mm) Hg to form a cracked product mixture; transferring the cracked product mixture to a phenol stripping column, separating phenol from the cracked product mixture in the stripping column; reacting the phenol with acetone in the presence of an acid catalyst to form bisphenol A; and isolating the bisphenol A wherein the mother liquor residue results from distillation of a mother liquor resulting from bisphenol A synthesis and isolation.
12. The process of claim 11 , wherein the phenol is added to the mother liquor and distilled prior to reacting with acetone.
13. The process of claim 1 , wherein distillation occurs at a temperature of 68 to 202° C.