Water extractive distillation of ethanol

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS OF USING WATER EXTRACTIVE DISTILLATION FOR PURIFYING CRUDE ETHANOL CONTAMINATED BY SMALL AMOUNTS OF IMPURITIES INCLUDING HIGHER BOILING HYDROCARBON OILS AND OXYGENATED ORGANIC COMPOUNDS BUT SUBSTANTIALLY FREED OF DIETHYL EHTER, THE IMPROVEMENT WHICH COMPRISES DISTILLING SAID IMPURITIES AND THEIR DECOMPOSITION PRODUCTS SOME OF THE ETHANOL AND WATER IN A WATER EXTRACTIVE DISTILLATION ZONE AT TEMPERATURES SUBSTANTIALLY ABOVE THE RANGE OF 172*F. TO 212*F. THROUGHOUT SAID ZONE BY MAINTAINING SUPERATMOSPHERIC PRESSURES OF 60-150 P. S. I. G. THEREIN, MAINTAINING BOTTOMS TEMPERATURES OF SAID ZONE IN THE RANGE OF 280*-350*F. TO DECOMPOSE UNSTABLE HIGHER BOILING IMPURITIES PRESENT IN THE BOTTOMS, THUS FORMING VOLATILE ACIDIC DECOMPOSITION PRODUCTS WHICH ARE REMOVED OVERHEAD WITH DISTILLED VAPORS, THUS GIVEN A PH IN THE RANGE OF TO 7 WHILE THE RESIDUAL BOTTOMS IS THUS MADE ALKALINE WITH A PH IN THE RANGE OF 7.5 TO 9, PASSING THE RESULTING DILUTE ALKALINE AQUEOUS ETHANOL RESIDUE OF THE BOTTOMS FROM THE EXTRACTIVE DISTILLATION ZONE TO A RECTIFYING ZONE, AND DISTILLING FROM SAID RECTIFYING ZONE A SUBSTANTIALLY NEUTRAL, PURIFIED, AQUEOUS ETHANOL FRACTION AT LOWERED PRESSURES CLOSE TO ONE ATMOSPHERE.