Recovery of oxygenated compounds and hydrocarbons from mixtures thereof

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS FOR SEPARATELY RECOVERING GENERICALLY DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPONENTS FROM A MIXTURE OF HYDROCARBONS, ORGANIC OXGENATED COMPOUNDS, AND WATER, OBTAINED BY CATALYTICALLY HYDROGENATING CARBON MONOXIDE, COOLING THE RESULTING VAPOROUS MIXTURE AND CONDENSING NORMALLY LIQUID COMPONENTS THEREFROM, AND SEPARATING FROM THE COOLED MIXTURE A GAS PHASE, A FIRST LIQUID HYDROCARBON PHASE, AND A FIRST AQUEOUS PHASE, ALL OF SAID PHASES CONTAINING ORGANIC OXYGENED COMPOUNDS, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES FRACTIONALLY DISTILLING SAID FIRST AQUEOUS PHASE, AND SEPARATING THEREFROM AN OVERHEAD FRACTION CONSISTING PREDOMINANTLY OF LOW-BOILING ORGANIC OXGENATED COMPOUNDS SUBSTANTIALLY FREE FROM ORGANIC ACIDS, A BOTTON AQUEOUS FRACTION CONTAINING ORGANIC ACIDS SUBSTANTIALLY FREE FROM OTHER ORGANIC OXGENATED COMPOUNDS, AND AN INTERMEDIATE AQUEOUS FRACTION CONTAINING HYDROCARBON-SOLUBLE SUBSTANCES AND HIGHER-BOILING WATER-SOLUBLE ORGANIC OXGENATED COMPOUNDS; CONTACTING SAID FIRST LIQUID HYDROCARBON PHASE WITH SAID INTERMEDIATE AQUEOUS FRACTION; AND STRATIFYING AND WITHDRAWING THEREFROM A SECOND LIQUID HYDROCARBON PHASE CONTAINING A DIMINISHED PROPORTION OF ORGANIC OXGENATED COMPOUNDS AND A SECOND AQUEOUS PHASE CONTAINING A DIMINSHED PROPORTION OF HYDROCARBON-SOLUBLE SUBSTANCES.