Separation of hydrocarbons

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR SEGREGATING A HYDROCARBON OIL CONTAINING AROMATIC AND NON-AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS BOILING OVER THE SAME TEMPERATURE RANGE OF AT LEAST ABOUT 80* F. INTO A RELATIVELY AROMATIC PORTION AND A RELATIVELY NON-AROMATIC PORTION, WHICH COMPRISES FRACTIONALLY DISTILLING SAID OIL TO RECOVER (1) A BOTTOMS FRACTION AMOUNTING TO BETWEEN ABOUT 30% AND 70% BY VOLUME OF THE FEED OIL, AND (2) A LOWER-BOILING FRACTION AMOUNTING TO THE MAJOR PART OF THE TOTAL FEED OIL BOILING BELOW SAID BOTTOMS FRACTION; SUBJECTING SAID BOTTOMS FRACTION TO SOLVENT EXTRACTION WITH A SOLVENT WHICH (1) IS A SELECTIVE SOLVENT FOR AROMATICS, (2) IS A SELECTIVE AZEOTROPE FORMER FOR NON-AROMATICS, AND (3) BOILS APPROXIMATELY WITHIN THE BOILING RANGE OF SAID LOWER-BOILING FRACTION OF FEED; RECOVERING FROM SAID EXTRACTION A HYDROCARBOBN RAFFINATE WHICH IS RELATIVELY NONAROMATIC AND AN EXTRACT WHICH CONTAINS A RELATIVELY AROMATIC HYDROCARBON SOLUTE; SUBJECTING SAID EXTRACT PLUS SAID LOWER-BOILING FRACTION TO MUTUAL AZEOTROPIC DISTILLATION RECOVERING FROM SAID AZEOTROPIC DISTILLATION A BOTTOMS FRACTION WHICH IS RELATIVELY RICH IN AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS, AND AN AZEOTROPIC OVERHEAD OF SOLVENT PLUS RELATIVELY NONAROMATIC HYDROCARBONS; SEPARATING THE SOLVENT FROM SAID AROMATIC OVERHEAD AND COMBINING SAID RELATIVELY NONAROMATIC HYDROCARBONS FROM SAID AZEOTROPIC OVERHEAD WITH SAID RELATIVELY NON-AROMATIC HYDROCARBON RAFFINATE.