Method for separating and purifying p-cresol from industrial mixture of m-cresol and p-cresol

The invention provides a method for separating and purifying p-cresol by using a complexation and crystallization process. The method comprises the following steps: 1) complexation and crystallization; 2) solid-liquid separation and washing; 3) decomplexation; 4) rectification; and 5) melt crystallization so as to obtain a p-cresol product with a purity of greater than 99%. The method for separating and purifying p-cresol can be applied to conventional crude-phenol-refining enterprises and enables the enterprises to produce m-cresol/p-cresol mixture products with p-cresol content of 25 to 75%and total m-cresol/p-cresol content of 83 to 99%. 本发明提供了种络合结晶法分离提纯对甲酚方法，所述方法包括如下步骤：1)络合结晶；2)固液分离洗涤；3)解络；4)精馏；5)熔融结晶，即可得到纯度大于99％对甲酚产品。本发明所述的分离提纯对甲酚的方法可应用在现有粗酚精制企业，企业能够产生对甲酚含量在25％-75％，间对总含量83％-99％的间对混甲酚产品。