Oxidation system with internal secondary reactor
AssigneeEastman Chemical Company
InventorsAlan George Wonders, Thomas Earl Woodruff, Ronald Buford Sheppard, Wayne Scott Strasser
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Abstract
Disclosed is an optimized process and apparatus for more efficiently and economically carrying out the liquid-phase oxidation of an oxidizable compound. Such liquid-phase oxidation is carried out in a bubble column reactor that provides for a highly efficient reaction at relatively low temperatures. When the oxidized compound is para-xylene and the product from the oxidation reaction is crude terephthalic acid (CTA), such CTA product can be purified and separated by more economical techniques than could be employed if the CTA were formed by a conventional high-temperature oxidation process.
Claims30
A process for making a polycarboxylic acid composition, said process comprising:
- (a) subjecting a first portion of a multi-phase reaction medium to oxidation in a first reaction zone defined within an external reaction vessel;
- (b) subjecting a second portion of said multi-phase reaction medium to oxidation in a second reaction zone defined within an internal reaction vessel, wherein said internal reaction vessel is at least partly disposed in said external reaction vessel;
- and
- (c) withdrawing at least a portion of a slurry phase of said reaction medium from said second reaction zone for subsequent downstream processing, wherein said slurry phase comprises solid and liquid phases.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.