Process for producing ε-caprolactone
AssigneeMitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc.
InventorsKazuo Tanaka, Atsushi Okoshi, Hiroshi Ogawa
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Abstract
What is disclosed is a process for producing ε-caprolactone which comprises removing impurities by distillation from a reaction mixture obtained by co-oxidation of cyclohexanone and aldehyde, wherein ε-caprolactone separated from a purifying column is contacted with oxygen containing gas in the presence of cobalt. High boiling point components are removed to give an acid value of lower than 0.15 mgKOH/g. Thereby, a high quality ε-caprolactone providing improved polymer appearance is produced advantageously on an industrial scale without repeated purifying distillations or without using expensive stabilizer or adsorbent for the improvement of color.
Claims13
In a process for producing ε-caprolactone by co-oxidation of cyclohexanone and an aldehyde to form a reaction mixture containing ε-caprolactone, low boiling components, high boiling components and color components, the improvement which comprises subjecting the reaction mixture to an oxidation treatment with an oxygen containing gas in the presence of cobalt to convert color components to high boiling components and then recovering the ε-caprolactone having an acid value of less than 0.15 mg KOH/g.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.