Abstract: A process for separating phenol obtained by the decomposition of cumene hydroperoxide from high boiling impurities, includes the following steps:a) feeding phenol rectification bottoms comprising phenol, acetophenone, cumylphenol, alpha-methylstyrene dimers and high boiler residues to a first phenol freeing distillation column A;b) feeding concentrated bottoms with substantially reduced phenol content from column A to a second residue concentration distillation column B;c) withdrawing a stream rich in compounds boiling between phenol and residue, particularly cumylphenol, from said column B from a point below the feed and returning at least a portion of said stream to said column A at a point above the feed;d) recovering overheads from column A comprising at least 95 weight percent phenol; ande) recovering acetophenone-rich overheads from column B comprising at least 70 weight percent acetophenone.

Abstract: This invention is a process for purifying crude acetone obtained by cleavage of cumene hydroperoxide, said crude acetone containing aldehyde impurities and appreciable amounts of unreacted cumene, by fractionally distilling the acetone in a multiple plate distillation column, said process comprising: continuously feeding crude acetone; continuously feeding a dilute aqueous solution of an alkaline material at a point above the crude acetone feed point; and controlling the temperature profile of the column by adjusting the amount of liquid acetone removed in step (c) to maintain a preselected temperature on a plate in the region between the crude acetone feed point and the alkaline material feed point.

Abstract: Two hydrophilic acrylic polymers, preferably together with a higher trialkyl trimellitate, are employed in the washing of textiles in a laundry to improve the soil release properties. If desired a durable press resin can also be incorporated.