Abstract: Methods and systems for preparing acetone from cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) are disclosed. The disclosed methods involve cleaving CHP to form a cleavage product stream. In some embodiments, the cleavage product stream is separated into an overhead stream and a bottoms stream. The bottoms stream is neutralized, washed and then treated in a crude acetone column to provide a crude acetone stream. The overhead stream of the cleavage product is flashed forward in the process, bypassing the neutralization, washing, and crude acetone column and is then combined with the crude acetone stream. The combined acetone streams are provided to an acetone product column. According to some embodiments, the acetone product column comprises a side draw for obtaining a recycle acetone stream, which is recycled to the cleavage reactor(s). The recycle acetone side draw may be located lower on the acetone product column than the point from which product acetone is obtained.

Abstract: Methods and systems for preparing acetone from cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) are disclosed. The disclosed methods involve cleaving CHP to form a cleavage product stream. In some embodiments, the cleavage product stream is separated into an overhead stream and a bottoms stream. The bottoms stream is neutralized, washed and then treated in a crude acetone column to provide a crude acetone stream. The overhead stream of the cleavage product is flashed forward in the process, bypassing the neutralization, washing, and crude acetone column and is then combined with the crude acetone stream. The combined acetone streams are provided to an acetone product column. According to some embodiments, the acetone product column comprises a side draw for obtaining a recycle acetone stream, which is recycled to the cleavage reactor(s). The recycle acetone side draw may be located lower on the acetone product column than the point from which product acetone is obtained.