Caustic oxidation of alcohols

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE CONTINUOUS OXIDATION OF ALIPHATIC ALCOHOLS, HAVING FROM ABOUT 6 TO ABOUT 15 CARBON ATOMS, TO THE CORRESPONDING ALKALI METAL CARBOXYLATE SOAP, WHICH PROCESS COMPRISES (1) CONTINUOUSLY AND SEPARATELY ADDING TO THE LOWERMOST PORTION OF A VERTICAL REACTION ZONE (A) SAID ALCOHOL, PREHEATED TO A TEMPERATURE ON THE ORDER OF THE REACTION ZONE TEMPERATURE, AND (B) AQUEOUS ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDE SOLUTION, CONTAINING BETWEEN ABOUT 45 AND 80 WEIGHT PERCENT OF ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDE, PREHEATED TO A TEMPERATURE ON THE ORDER OF THE REACTION ZONE TEMPERATURE, THE MOLE RATIO OF ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDE ADDED TO ALCOHOL ADDED BEING AT LEAST ABOUT 1, (2) IMMEDIATELY COMMINGLING SAID ALCOHOL AND SAID SOLUTION, SAID REACTION ZONE BEING MAINTAINED (I) AT A TEMPERATURE BETWEEN ABOUT 650*F. AND ABOUT 740*F., AND (II) AT A PRESSURE BETWEEN 150 P.S.I.A. AND ABOUT 250 P.S.I.A., SO THAT THE WATER CONTENT OF THE SAID ALKALI METAL HYDROXIDE SOLUTION IS REDUCED TO BETWEEN ABOUT 3 AND 10 WEIGHT PERCENT, WHEREBY THERE IS FORMED IN THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID REACTION ZONE AN EMULSION-LIKE MASS COMPOSED OF GASEOUS, LIQUID AND SOLID COMPONENTS CONTRIBUTED FROM SAID ALCOHOL, SAID SOLUTION, PRODUCT SOAP AND OTHER REACTION PRODUCTS, (3) INTIMATELY CONTACTING THE REACTANTS AND REACTION PRODUCTS IN SAID MASS WHILE PASSING SAID MASS, AT A SPACE VELOCITY, VOLUME OF ALCOHOL/VOLUME OF REACTION ZONE/HOUR, OF BETWEEN ABOUT 0.3 AND 0.6, UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID REACTION ZONE WITHOUT APPARENT SEPARATION OF GASEOUS FROM SAID OTHER COMPONENTS, (4) CONTINUOUSLY WITHDRAWING EMULSION-LIKE MASS FROM THE UPPER PORTION OF SAID REACTION ZONE AND (5) PASSING SAID WITHDRAWN MASS TO A SEPARATION ZONE, MAINTAINED AT SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME PRESSURE AS SAID REACTION ZONE, WHEREIN GASEOUS COMPONENTS ARE SEPARATED FROM PRODUCT SOAP AND SAID OTHER COMPONENTS.