The invention provides a technology for complexing, crystallizing, separating and purifying
metacresol, belonging to the field of separation and purification in a
chemical industry. The technology comprises the steps of dissolving
urea in mixed
phenol: adding the mixed
phenol into a reactor, wherein the mixed
phenol comprises 10.907wt% of o-
cresol, 34.276wt% of p-
cresol, 53.176wt% of m-
cresol and 1.641% of dimethyl phenol; adding the
urea into the reactor, wherein the
mole ratio of the
urea to the m-cresol is 1.0-1.8; heating and rising the temperature to be 85-105DEG C in a water bath or an
oil bath for 40-80min, so that the urea is completely dissolved in the mixed phenol; cooling, adding normal
hexane under the temperature of 60DEG C, and crystallizing for 1-2h under the temperature from -10DEG C to -20DEG C; transporting crystallized
serous fluid into a filter to separate
solid from liquid; recovering filter liquor in a rectifying way, adding water into crystalline
solid, and hydrolyzing during heating at 40DEG C to obtain water phase and organic phase; and recovering the water phase, so that the organic phase is the m-cresol. In the technology, methylbenzene is replaced by normal
hexane to be taken as a dissolvent for complexing and crystallizing reaction, so that the technology is higher in the yield of the cresol, the usage amount of the dissolvent can be reduced by one third, and the dissolvent can be covered by less
energy consumption.