Abstract: Benzyl alcohol of high purity is produced by supplying benzyl acetate, water and acetic acid to a hydrolysis reactor packed with a solid acid catalyst. The liquid reaction mixture produced, which contains benzyl acetate, water, benzyl alcohol and acetic acid, is supplied to an acetic acid-water recovery column, Benzyl alcohol and benzyl acetate are recovered while acetic acid is removed and returned to the hydrolysis reactor.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a process for producing benzyl acetate and benzyl alcohol.Benzyl acetate itself is useful as a solvent and a perfume. Benzyl alcohol which is derived from the benzyl acetate by hydrolysis or by transesterification with methanol is an important compound useful as a powerful solvent, a nontoxic medical additive, and an intermediate compound for agricultural chemicals and medicines.

Abstract: A polyarylene sulfide having a low content of electrolytic ions is economically recovered from a mixture consisting mainly of polyarylene sulfide and an alkali metal halide which mixture is obtained by reacting a polyhalogenated aromatic compound and an alkali metal sulfide containing water in an organic polar solvent, by dehydrating the mixture by distillation, mixing the dehydrated mixture with a solvent which is a poor solvent for both polyarylene sulfide and alkali metal halide and which is soluble in the organic polar solvent to prepare a slurry consisting essentially of the polyarylene sulfide and the alkali metal halide, subjecting the slurry to solid-liquid separation, washing the resultant cake with the poor solvent, drying the cake, adding water to the cake to wash away the alkali metal halide through dissolution, and subjecting the slurry to solid-liquid separation to recover polyarylene sulfide.