A process for preparing a hydrazine hydrohalide comprising the steps of: (a) oxiding a benzophenone-imine with molecular oxygen in the presence of a copper halide catalyst to produce benzophenone-azine; (b) contacting the oxidation reaction mixture with an aqueous solution containing a hydrohalic acid thereby hydrolyzing the benzophenone-azines to produce a hydrazine hydrohalide and, simultaneously extracting and removing the catalyst with the hydrohalide acid-containing aqueous solution to obtain an aqueous solution containing the hydrazine hydrohalide and the catalyst; (c) separating the aqueous solution and adjusting the solution to a pH of from 3 to 7 with an alkali; (d) contacting the aqueous solution with a benzophenone-imine to extract the catalyst; (e) separating the catalyst-containing benzophenone-imines solution from the aqueous solution containing the hydrazine hydrohalide to recover the hydrazine hydrohalide and to recycle the catalyst-containing benzophenone-imine solution to step (a). The process is advantageous in that the catalyst is easily recovered for reuse.
