Acesulfame potassium compositions and processes for producing same

A process for producing a finished acesulfame potassium composition, the process comprising the steps of:

• (a) forming a cyclic sulfur trioxide adduct;
• (b) hydrolyzing the cyclic sulfur trioxide adduct to form an acesulfame-H composition comprising acesulfame-H;
• (c) neutralizing the acesulfame-H in the acesulfame-H composition to form a crude acesulfame potassium composition, wherein the neutralizing step is conducted at a pH of from 8 to 11;
• and
• (d) treating the crude acesulfame potassium composition to form a finished acesulfame potassium composition comprising acesulfame potassium and less than 37 wppm acetoacetamide-N-sulfonic acid, wherein the treating step (d) comprises a concentration operation and a separation operation, and wherein the concentration operation is conducted at a temperature below 90° C.