Manufacture of bisphenol a

Abstract

The invention is directed to a method for the manufacture of bisphenol A, and to bisphenol A/phenol adduct crystals. The method of the invention comprises: a) reacting phenol and acetone in the presence of an acidic catalyst to form a reaction product comprising an initial concentration of bisphenol A and an initial concentration of impurities; b) diluting the reaction product with phenol, water and/or acetone, so as to decrease the impurity concentration to 50% by weight or less of the initial concentration of impurities, and adding bisphenol A to increase the concentration thereof in the reaction product; and thereafter c) crystallising a bisphenol A/phenol adduct from the reaction product to produce a crystallised bisphenol A product.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.