13 January 2015
The Badger bisphenol A (BPA) technology produces
a high-purity BPA product from
phenol and acetone
that is suitable for
polycarbonate and epoxy resin applications.
The process uses ion-exchange resin catalyst, and
features proprietary purification technology.
About 1.2 million tons of capacity
has been licensed across the globe.
In the BPA condensation reactors,
phenol and acetone
react over an ion-exchange resin catalyst
in the presence of a homogeneous promoter and
excess phenol, to produce
bisphenol A, water and various byproducts.
The catalyst system has a long catalyst life.
The water of reaction and
the small amount of unreacted acetone
are removed from the reactor effluent by distillation.
Acetone is recycled to the reactor system.
No acetone purge is required with this process.
The reaction water is sent to the waste recovery system,
from which wastewater suitable for biotreatment and
phenol suitable for recycle
to the reaction system are produced.
The dehydration effluent is concentrated to
a BPA level suitable for crystallization.
BPA is separated from byproducts in
a proprietary solvent crystallization and recovery system
to produce the adduct of p,p BPA and phenol.
Mother liquor from the purification system
is distilled in the solvent recovery section
to recover dissolved solvent.
The solvent-free mother liquor stream
is recycled to the reaction system.
A purge from the mother liquor
is sent to the waste recovery system.
Single train designs
as large as 200kta or as small as 60kta
are available.
The purified adduct is processed in a BPA finishing system
to remove phenol from the product, and
the resulting molten BPA is solidified in the prill tower
to produce prills suitable for the merchant BPA market,
including polycarbonate production.
READ MORE ABOUT BISPHENOL A (BPA)
The Cumene Process
ALKYLATION
An alkylation system converts
benzene and propylene to cumene.
A small fraction of the cumene is further alkylated
to polyisopropylbenzenes (PIPB).
The alkylation reaction is exothermic.
The alkylator is staged with intermediate cooling
to control the reaction temperature.
TRANSALKYLATION
A transalkylation system converts
PIPB with benzene to additional cumene.
Transalkylation is isothermal.
The transalkylator is a single bed reactor.
PURIFICATION
A distillation train recycles excess benzene to reactors,
isolates cumene as product, and
recovers PIPB for transalkylation.
The Badger Cumene process
is a high yield, high energy efficiency,
low environmental impact process that
is easy to operate and maintain,
allowing for very low production cost.
DETAILS
today announced that
Lihuayi Weiyuan Chemical Co., Lt d. (Lihuayi)
has selected Badger to provide
its proprietary technology
for a 120,000 metric ton per annum grassroots b
isphenol-A (BPA) plant being built in Lijin,
Shandong Province, People’s Republic of China.
The award includes
technology license, process design, and start-up services.
The new BPA plant is under construction and
is scheduled for mechanical completion and start up in 2015.
Lihuayi operates a cumene plant using
Badger technology at the same site.
WWW.CHEMWINFO.COM BY KHUN PHICHAI
