| abstract |
A process for producing a dihydric phenol preferably bisphenol-A consisting of the steps of (1) formulating reaction ingredients of phenol, acetone, recycle bisphenol A, impurities, an acid catalyst and water, (2) reacting the ingredients to form a product mix consisting of bisphenol-A, unreacted phenol, by-products, acetone and water, (3) crystallizing the product mix forming a slurry of bisphenol-A/phenol adduct crystals solid phase, (4) separating the solid phase from the liquid phase by filtration, (5) removing the phenol from the bisphenol-A/phenol adduct to obtain a crude bisphenol-A, and (6) purifying the crude bisphenol by fractional melt crystallization to obtain a bisphenol-A of at least 99.5 % purity. Optionally, the process may include the steps of recycling the liquid phase from step (3) back to the reaction step after removal of the water of reaction, and further removing entrained phenol and acetone from the removed water of reaction which phenol and acetone is also recycled back to the reaction step. |