Process for preparing phenol and acetone by acid-catalyzed cleavage of cumene hydroperoxide

Abstract

Phenol and acetone are prepared by a process comprising homogeneously cleaving cumene hydroperoxide in the presence of acid catalyst in a cleavage apparatus comprising at least one reactor having plug flow characteristics thereby producing a cleavage product; recycling some of the cleavage product stream by combining the recycled cleavage product stream with the cumene hydroperoxide-containing feed stream fed to said cleavage apparatus under the condition that the mass flow ratio of the recycled partial cleavage product stream to the cumene hydroperoxide-containing feed stream sent to the cleavage reactor is less than 10.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.