Process Development of Preparing Dinonylphenol-Substituted Methane by Acid Resin-Packed Bed Reactor

The process to prepare skeleton of gemini surfactants is so complex and expensive that the production and application of gemini surfactants is hindered although they have attracted widespread attention for their unique properties. In this paper an acid resin-packed bed reactor was used to valuate the acid resin catalyzed condensation of nonylphenol and formaldehyde to synthesize the skeleton of gemini surfactants, dinonylphenol-substituted methane such as bis-(2-hydroxy- 5-nonylphenyl)-methane. And the process optimizing and period evaluation of the resin was carried out. The experimental results show that the conversion of nonylphenol based on formaldehyde could reach above 94.3% and the selectivity of dinonylphenol- substituted methane is 92.1% when the reaction in the molar ratio of nonylphenol to formaldehyde 4:1 at 60 ^oC for 6 h. The acid resin-packed bed reactor was operated in a 40–day period test, in which the conversion of nonylphenol based on formaldehyde was above 85% with the selectivity of dinonylphenol-substituted methane kept on 92%.