OPTIMISED LIQUID-PHASE OXIDATION Russian patent published in 2010 - IPC C07C51/21 

FIELD: chemistry.

SUBSTANCE: method involves oxidation of para-xylene in the liquid phase of a multiphase reaction medium contained in one or more primary oxidation reactors, in which the reaction medium contains a first separate 20% continuous volume having a first oxygen space-time rate (STR), and a second a second separate 20% continuous volume having a second oxygen STR, where the ratio of the first oxygen STR to the second oxygen STR is at least 1.5:1. The second version of the method involves feeding para-xylene into a reaction zone of a reactor-type bubble column, feeding a stream of oxidising agent, and oxidation of at least a portion of the para-xylene in the liquid phase of the multiphase reaction medium contained in the reaction zone of the primary oxidation reactor in which oxidation takes place such that, if the said reaction zone was theoretically divided into 30 horizontal layers of the same volume, one layer O₂-max has maximum concentration of oxygen, and one layer O₂-min has minimum concentration of oxygen, with their ratio approximately equal to 2:1.

EFFECT: efficient reaction at relatively low temperature, increased cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the method.

37 cl, 7 tbl, 35 dwg, 11 ex