US Patent 7834218 Process for producing phenol and methyl ethyl ketone

A process for producing phenol and methyl ethyl ketone comprises contacting benzene and a C4 alkylating agent under alkylation conditions and in the presence of an alkylation catalyst comprising at least one molecular sieve of the MCM-22 family to produce an alkylation effluent comprising secbutylbenzene; wherein the contacting is conducted in a plurality of reaction zones and the C4 alkylating agent secbutylbenzene fraction is recovered from the alkylation effluent and comprises at least 95 wt % sec-butylbenzene, less than 100 wt ppm of C8+ olefins, and less than 0.5 wt % of isobutylbenzene and tert-butylbenzene. The sec-butylbenzene fraction is then oxidized to produce sec-butylbenzene hydroperoxide and the hydroperoxide is cleaved to produce phenol and methyl ethyl ketene.