| abstract |
In the production of aromatic carboxylic acids such as terephthalic acid by the liquid phase oxidation of a precursor thereof, a slurry of the carboxylic acid crystals in an aliphatic carboxylic acid-based mother liquor is withdrawn from the oxidation reactor (50), cooled and passed to a solids-liquid separation unit (66) to separate mother liquor from the aromatic carboxylic acid crystals. Following cooling, the slurry is managed to secure reduction in the extent to which small particles present in the slurry interfere with the solids-liquid separation process. |