Patents by Inventor Tetsuya Saruwatari

Tetsuya Saruwatari has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 6727394
    Abstract: There is disclosed a process for producing bisphenol A by continuously supplying phenol to a first-stage reactor in a continuous multi-stage fixed-bed reaction system composed of at least two reactors each filled in with a cation exchange resin as a catalyst, and continuously supplying acetone separately to each of the reactors, characterized by arranging a reactor which is filled in with a fresh or regenerated cation exchange resin on the final stage in the case of replacing the most seriously deteriorated cation exchange resin in catalytic activity with the fresh or regenerated cation exchange resin, and operating the final stage reactor so that the ratio R of the feed rate of acetone to the consumption rate thereof falls within more than one to less than 3. The above process makes it possible to efficiently produce bisphenol A having favorable hue, while maintaining the acetone feed rate at a relatively low level.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2004
    Assignee: Idemitsu Petrochemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tetsuya Saruwatari
  • Publication number: 20040030196
    Abstract: Provided is a process for producing a bisphenol A by continuously feeding phenol and acetone into a reactor unit having at least two reaction zones connected in series. In the process, an acidic cation-exchange resin partially neutralized with a sulfur-containing nitrogen compound in from 15 to 50% of the acid site thereof is used as the catalyst, and acetone having a methanol concentration of at most 3,000 ppm is separately fed into at least two reaction zones in the reactor unit. The life of the acidic cation-exchange resin catalyst used in the process is prolonged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2003
    Publication date: February 12, 2004
    Inventors: Tetsuya Saruwatari, Masahiro Iwahara
  • Publication number: 20030212299
    Abstract: There is disclosed a method of producing bisphenol A, in which bisphenol A is produced by condensation of phenol and acetone with the use of a cation exchange resin as a catalyst and a free mercaptan as a promoter, comprising feeding phenol and acetone to a multi-stage reactor in which at least two fixed bed-type adiabatic reactors packed with the cation exchange resin are arranged in series and a heat exchanger is provided at an inlet of each of the reactors, and controlling the temperature within each of the reactors so as not to exceed 90° C.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2003
    Publication date: November 13, 2003
    Applicant: IDEMITSU PETROCHEMICAL CO., LTD.
    Inventor: Tetsuya Saruwatari
  • Patent number: 6608234
    Abstract: There is disclosed a method of producing bisphenol A, in which bisphenol A is produced by condensation of phenol and acetone with the use of a cation exchange resin as a catalyst and a free mercaptan as a promoter, comprising feeding phenol and acetone to a multi-stage reactor in which at least two fixed bed-type adiabatic reactors packed with the cation exchange resin are arranged in series and a heat exchanger is provided at an inlet of each of the reactors, and controlling the temperature within each of the reactors so as not to exceed 90° C. With this method, elimination of sulfonic groups from the cation exchange resin as a catalyst can be suppressed, so that bisphenol A of high quality can be obtained, and the amount of the catalyst used can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2003
    Assignee: Idemitsu Petrochemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tetsuya Saruwatari
  • Publication number: 20030153792
    Abstract: There is disclosed a process for producing bisphenol A by subjecting phenol and acetone to condensation reaction in the presence of a catalyst composed of an acid type ion exchange resin which is modified in part with a sulfur-containing amine compound, wherein the ion exchange resin having a modification rate of 10 to less than 20 mol % is used for a methanol concentration in acetone of lower than 250 ppm by weight, and the ion exchange resin having a modification rate of 20 to 65 mol % is used for a methanol concentration in acetone of 250 to 8000 ppm by weight. The above process is capable of producing bisphenol A at high conversion and selectivity by suppressing deterioration of catalytic activity due to methanol as an impurity in acetone.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2002
    Publication date: August 14, 2003
    Inventors: Masahiro Iwahara, Tetsuya Saruwatari
  • Publication number: 20030125587
    Abstract: There is disclosed a process for producing bisphenol A by continuously supplying phenol to a first-stage reactor in a continuous multi-stage fixed-bed reaction system composed of at least two reactors each filled in with a cation exchange resin as a catalyst, and continuously supplying acetone separately to each of the reactors, characterized by arranging a reactor which is filled in with a fresh or regenerated cation exchange resin on the final stage in the case of replacing the most seriously deteriorated cation exchange resin in catalytic activity with the fresh or regenerated cation exchange resin, and operating the final stage reactor so that the ratio R of the feed rate of acetone to the consumption rate thereof falls within more than one to less than 3. The above process makes it possible to efficiently produce bisphenol A having favorable hue, while maintaining the acetone feed rate at a relatively low level.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 2002
    Publication date: July 3, 2003
    Inventor: Tetsuya Saruwatari
  • Publication number: 20030013927
    Abstract: In the production of bisphenol A by condensation of phenol and acetone with the use of a cation exchange resin as a catalyst and optionally a free mercaptan as a promoter, the degree of conversion of phenol is maintained by increasing the molar ratio of acetone/phenol with the deterioration of the cation exchange resin.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2002
    Publication date: January 16, 2003
    Inventor: Tetsuya Saruwatari
  • Publication number: 20030013928
    Abstract: In the production of bisphenol A by condensation of phenol and acetone with the use of a cation exchange resin as a catalyst and a free mercaptan as a promoter, the superficial velocity of raw material within the reaction column packed with a cation exchange resin is controlled to be in the range of 1.5 m/hr to 6 m/hr.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2002
    Publication date: January 16, 2003
    Inventor: Tetsuya Saruwatari
  • Publication number: 20030013926
    Abstract: There is disclosed a method of producing bisphenol A, in which bisphenol A is produced by condensation of phenol and acetone with the use of a cation exchange resin as a catalyst and a free mercaptan as a promoter, comprising feeding phenol and acetone to a multi-stage reactor in which at least two fixed bed-type adiabatic reactors packed with the cation exchange resin are arranged in series and a heat exchanger is provided at an inlet of each of the reactors, and controlling the temperature within each of the reactors so as not to exceed 90° C.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 16, 2002
    Publication date: January 16, 2003
    Inventor: Tetsuya Saruwatari
  • Patent number: 6414199
    Abstract: Provided is a method of producing bisphenol A in which the life of the acid-type ion-exchange resin used as a catalyst can be prolonged. The method comprises reacting phenol and acetone in the presence of an acid-type ion-exchange resin serving as a catalyst and an alkylmercaptan serving as a promoter to give bisphenol A, in which three or more reactors connected in series are used and all of phenol, all of an alkylmercaptan and a part of acetone are fed into the first reactor while the remaining acetone, divided into plural portions, is into all the second to the last reactors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2002
    Assignee: Idemitsu Petrochemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Tetsuya Saruwatari
  • Patent number: 6268543
    Abstract: In a method of efficiently removing mercury from a liquid hydrocarbon, the liquid hydrocarbon is contacted with water contacted in advance with a crude oil and a sludge contacted in advance with a crude oil. Alternatively, the liquid hydrocarbon is contacted with a substance having ability of ionizing elemental mercury and a sulfur compound having the formula: MM′S, wherein M and M′ are identical or different and are each hydrogen, alkali metal or ammonium group. When the liquid hydrocarbon to be treated contains no dissolved oxygen or contains dissolved oxygen in an amount in equilibrium with a gas containing 8% by volume of oxygen, the increase in the mercury concentration of a liquid hydrocarbon after the removing treatment is effectively prevented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2001
    Assignee: Idemitsu Petrochemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tsunenori Sakai, Hidetoshi Ono, Jun Mase, Tetsuya Saruwatari