Process for producing phenol and method for regenerating catalyst deactivated in the process

#The present invention relates to a method for regenerating a deactivated catalyst, and to a process for producing phenol and/or cyclohexanone.

#Phenol is an important product in the chemical industry and is useful in, for example, the production of phenolic resins, bisphenol A, ε-caprolactam, adipic acid, and plasticizers.

#Currently, the routes for the production of phenol include a cleavage process of alkylbenzene hydroperoxide to phenol with co-production of corresponding ketones. A common route is the Hock process via cumene. This is a three-step process in which the first step involves alkylation of benzene with propylene in the presence of an acidic catalyst to produce cumene. The second step is oxidation, preferably aerobic oxidation, of the cumene to the corresponding cumene hydroperoxide (CHP). The third step is the cleavage of the cumene hydroperoxide desirably in the presence of a sulfuric acid catalyst into equimolar amounts of phenol and acetone, a co-product.

#FIG. 1 shows catalyst activity as a function of amount of feed in grams having passed through per gram of catalyst over time of a fresh catalyst in the cleavage of cyclohexylbenzene hydroperoxide to phenol and cyclohexanone in Example 2.

#FIG. 2 shows catalyst activity as a function of the amount of feed in grams having passed through per gram of catalyst over time of a catalyst regenerated using aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution in the cleavage of cyclohexylbenzene hydroperoxide in Example 4.

#In the present disclosure, a process may be described as comprising of at least one “step.” It should be understood that each step is an action or operation that may be conducted once or multiple times in the process, in a continuous or discontinuous fashion. Unless specified to the contrary or the context clearly indicates otherwise, each step in a process may be conducted sequentially in the order as they are listed, with or without overlapping with one or more other step, or in any other order, as the case may be. In addition, some steps may be conducted simultaneously, for example, in the same reaction zone. Preferably, the steps are performed in the order listed.

#Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers in the present disclosure are to be understood as being modified by the term “about” in all instances. It should also be understood that the precise numerical values used in the specification and claims constitute specific embodiments. Efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the data in the examples. However, it should be understood that any measured data inherently contain a certain level of error due to the limitation of the technique and equipment used for making the measurement.

#As used herein, the indefinite article “a” or “an” shall mean “at least one” unless specified to the contrary or the context clearly indicates otherwise.