Process for preparation of polyalkyl hydroxyaromatics

A process for preparing polybutylphenol, comprising:

• introducing phenol, polybutylene and organic solvent components into a reaction vessel containing an acid catalyst, said components being introduced separately or in combination as one or more feed streams, said organic solvent comprising a mixture of alkanes and having a boiling point range with an initial boiling point of from less than about the boiling point of said phenol to about 190° C. and a final boiling of from about 210° C. to greater than about the boiling point of said tertiary butylphenol, and wherein said acid catalyst comprises at least one of acid resin catalyst, acidic metal oxide, acidic molecular sieves, or a mixture thereof;
• reacting at least a portion of said phenol with at least a portion of said polybutylene at temperature of from about 0° C. to about 100° C. in the presence of said acid catalyst to form a reaction product comprising polybutylphenol and tert butylphenol;
• withdrawing said reaction product as at least one reaction stream from said reaction vessel, said reaction stream comprising polybutylphenol, tert butylphenol, unreacted phenol and said solvent;
• separating at least a portion of said unreacted phenol from said reaction stream by distillation at a temperature and pressure effective to form a product stream comprising polybutylphenol, tert-butyl phenol and solvent, and a recycle stream comprising phenol, solvent, and less than or equal to about 2% by weight tert-butylphenol;
• and
• introducing said recycle stream into said reaction vessel with said one or more feed streams.

A process for preparing polybutylphenol, comprising:

• introducing phenol, polybutylene and organic solvent components into a reaction vessel containing an acid catalyst, said organic solvent mixture comprising a mixture of alkanes and having a boiling point range with an initial boiling point of from about 160° C. to about 180° C. and a final boiling point of from about 210° C. to about 300° C., and said acid catalyst comprising an acid resin catalyst;
• reacting at least a portion of said phenol with at least a portion of said polybutylene at temperature of from about 0° C. to about 100° C. in the presence of said acid catalyst to form a reaction product comprising polybutylphenol and tert butylphenol;
• withdrawing said reaction product as at least one reaction stream from said reaction vessel, said reaction stream comprising polybutylphenol, tert butylphenol, unreacted phenol and said solvent;
• separating at least a portion of said unreacted phenol from said reaction stream by distillation at a temperature and pressure selected to form a product stream comprising polybutylphenol, tert-butyl phenol and solvent, and a recycle stream comprising from about 10% to about 20% by weight phenol, from about 80% to about 90% by weight solvent, and from about 0% to about 2% by weight tert butylphenol;
• and
• introducing said recycle stream into said reaction vessel with said one or more feed streams;
• wherein said polybutylene has a number average molecular weight of from about 300 to about 5000;
• and
• wherein said product stream comprises from about 45% to about 80% by weight of polybutylphenol, from about 0.1% to about 3% by weight of tert butylphenol, and from about 15% to about 30% by weight of said solvent.