3440. ----- [SOLOMON, E] .(M. W. Kellogg Co.) Separation of Organic Compounds. United States Patent 2,540,143, Feb. 6, 1951; appl. filed Nov. 14, 1946, Serial No.709,881; 15 claims (Cl. 260-450). Chem. Abs. vol. 45, 1951, p. 5710.

PATENT

3440. ----- [SOLOMON, E] .(M. W. Kellogg Co.) Separation of Organic Compounds. United States Patent 2,540,143, Feb. 6, 1951; appl. filed Nov. 14, 1946, Serial No.709,881; 15 claims (Cl. 260-450). Chem. Abs. vol. 45, 1951, p. 5710.

Using normal pentane as a typical hydrocarbon solvent treating agent for removal of hydrocarbon impurities from aqueous alcohol solutions, the latter being representative of a group of aqueous solutions of oxygenated compounds that form azeotropes with hydrocarbons the invention, includes the following steps: (A) Separation of the aqueous alcohol stream in a hydrocarbon extraction column by countercurrent extraction with normal pentane, (B) Stripping of pentane from heavy hydrocarbons in a pentane distillation column. (C) removal of pentane from the aqueous alcohol stream by distillation in a depentanizing column, (D) combining the distillate (pentane-alcohol azeotrope) from the depentanizing column with the distillate from the pentane distillation column and H₂O washing the mixture thus obtained to recover hydrocarbon-free alcohols, and (E) recycling of pentane obtained from the H₂O-washing step for further use as a solvent treating agent. 2 United States patents cited.

See abs. 289, 290.