Patent 7534912 was granted and assigned to Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company on May, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A process for producing pyromellitic acid which comprises step A for oxidizing durene, thereby obtaining a reaction mixture comprising trimethyl benzoic acid, trimethyl benzyl alcohol and trimethyl benzaldehyde, step B for separating trimethyl benzoic acid, trimethyl benzaldehyde and trimethyl benzyl alcohol from the reaction mixture obtained in step A, and step C for oxidizing trimethyl benzoic acid and/or trimethyl benzaldehyde separated in step B, thereby obtaining pyromellitic acid.