Quantitative recovery of bromine by two stage catalytic oxidation of hydrogen bromide

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE QUANTITATIVE RECOVERY OF BROMINE FROM HYDROGEN BROMIDE WHICH COMPRISES ADMIXING HYDROGEN BROMIDE AND AN OXYGEN-CONTAINING GAS AND PASSING THE SAME THROUGH A FIRST OXIDATION ZONE OF A DUAL ZONE OXIDATION SYSTEM AT A TEMPERATURE OF AT LEAST ABOUT 225*C. IN CONTACT WITH A CATALYST SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF THE OXIDES AND SALTS OF CERIUM, MANGANESE, CHROMIUM, IRON, NICKEL AND COBALT AND CONVERTING A MAJOR PORTION OF SAID HYDROGEN BROMIDE TO BROMINE, PASSING THE FIRST OXIDATION ZONE EFFLUENT CONTAINING RESIDUAL HYDROGEN BROMIDE THROUGH THE SECOND OXIDATION ZONE IN CONTACT WITH A COPPER OXIDE CATALYST AND CONVERTING THE RESIDUAL HYDROGEN BROMIDE TO BROMINE AT REACTION CONDITIONS TO MAINTAIN IN SAID SECOND ZONE A TEMPERATURE OF FROM ABOUT 225*C. TO ABOUT 350*C. AND A TEMPERATURE PROFILE CHARACTERIZED BY A SUBSTANTIALLY IMMOBILE CATALYST PEAK TEMPERATURE NOT EXCEEDING ABOUT 350*C.