Production of bisphenol-A with reduced sulfur content

US7112703B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Bayer MaterialScience AG · DE

Inventors

• Rainer Neumann · Krefeld, DE
• Ulrich Blaschke · Krefeld, DE
• Stefan Westernacher · Kempen, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 26, 2005
• Grant date: Sep 26, 2006
• Expiry date: Feb 3, 2025

Classification

• Technology area (CPC C): Chemistry; Metallurgy
• CPC primary: C08G64/06
• WIPO field: Organic fine chemistry
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

A process for the production of bisphenol-A having low concentration of sulphur is disclosed. The process comprise a) reacting phenol with acetone in the presence of a sulfonic acid ion exchanger to form a product mixture containing water, bisphenol-A/phenol adduct, phenol and sulfurous particles, and b) filtering the product mixture to separate the sulfurous particles to obtain a purified product mixture that contains water, phenol and bisphenol-A/phenol adduct. In one embodiment of the process further comprise distilling the purified product mixture to remove the water to obtain a first material system that contains said adduct and phenol, crystallizing the adduct, and removing the phenol by filtration using a filtering apparatus to obtain crystalline adduct. In a yet additional embodiment the process comprise crystallizing the purified product mixture to obtain a second material system that contains crystalline adduct, water and phenol and removing the phenol and water by filtration using a filtering apparatus to obtain crystalline adduct.