(659b) Process Development for a Higher Quality and Cost Optimized Monomer

This study addresses a process improvement that involves the development of a new treatment system for a purge (tar) stream resulting as a by-product in the condensation reaction of phenol with a ketone to produce a bisphenol monomer at one of SABIC’s sites. The conventional tar recovery section is cumbersome and includes a multiplicity of vacuum distillation units.

This work discusses the installation of an acid catalyzed cracking process where the monomer is mainly converted to its original constituent (phenol) and the impurities are separated out.

Such improvement yields higher final product purity as a result of a decrease in the total impurities recycled into the main system. It also presents a cost effective process driven by the amelioration in the raw material usage. 

The transformation of the recovery section empowers the manufacturing unit at SABIC (Innovative Plastics business) to operate with a reduction in the purge stream by ~ 30%.