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.

Abstract: Methods and systems for preparing acetone from cumene hydroperoxide (CHP) are disclosed. The methods and systems involve an acetone purification column configured to separate acetone from other components of the product/reactant stream. The acetone purification column is equipped with a side draw configured to route a portion of the column contents to a caustic treating vessel where the contents are reacted with a dilute aqueous alkaline solution to remove aldehydes from the acetone product. The contents of the caustic treating vessel are then routed back to the acetone purification column. Using a separate caustic treating vessel for the aldehydes removal provides increased contact time between the acetone product and the alkaline solution, thereby affording greater aldehydes removal.