Dehydration of gases and regeneration of desiccant

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE DEHYDRATION OF GASES CONTAINING MOISTURE, WHICH PROCESS COMPRISES: MIXING SAID GASES WITH A LIQUID DISICCANT TO FORM A MIXTURE; COOLING SAID MIXTURE TO A TEMPERATURE SUFFICIENT TO CAUSE CONDENSATION OF A PORTION OF SAID GASES AND FORM A CONDENSATE; PASSING SAID COOLED MIXTURE TO A PHASE SEPARATION ZONE AND THEREIN SEPARATING SAME INTO A SUBSTANTIALLY DRY GAS PHASE, A CONDENSATE PHASE, AND A WET DESICCANT PHASE CONTAINING DISSOLVED HYDROCARBONS; PASSING SAID WET DESICCANT PHASE TO AN UPPER PORTION OF A DESICCANT REGENERATION ZONE; IN SAID REGENERATION ZONE, APPLYING SUFFICIENT HEAT TO SAID WET DESICCANT PHASE TO CAUSE SEPARATION OF DISSOLVED HYDROCARBONS AND WATER VAPOR THEREFROM TO PRODUCE A LIQUID HYDROCARBON PHASE AND A REGENERATED DESICCANT PHASE; REMOVING THE SEPARATED WATER VAPOR FROM AN UPPER PORTION OF THE REGENERATION ZONE; WITHDRAWING SAID HYDROCARBON PHASE AND SAID REGENERATED DESICCANT PHASE FROM SAID REGENERATION ZONE AS SEPARATE STREAMS; AND RECYCLNG SAID REGENERATED DESICCANT TO SAID MIXING STEP.