Recovery of desalted water from brine

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR EXTRACTING WATER FROM BRINE COMPRISING PASSING RELATIVELY COOL BRINE INTO DIRECT COUNTERCURRENT WITH RELATIVELY HOT HYDROCARBON LIQUID IN A FIRST CONTACTING ZONE WHEREBY SAID BRINE IS HEATED TO AN ELEVATED TEMPERATURE AND SAID HYDROCARBON IS COOLED UNDER SUFFICIENT PRESSURE TO MAINTAIN SAID BRINE AND SAID HYDROCARBON IN LIQUID PHASE; PASSING PREHEATED BRINE FROM SAID FIRST CONTACTING ZONE INTO ADMIXTURE WITH HOT HYDROCARBON LIQUID, PASSING THE RESULTING MIXTURE IN INDIRECT HEAT EXCHANGE WITH EXTRACT FROM A SOURCE HEREINAFTER DEFINED THEREBY HEATING SAID MIXTURE TO A TEMPERATURE EFFECTIVE FOR EXTRACTING WATER FROM SAID BRINE AND FORMING AN EXTRACT CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF RELATIVELY SALTFREE WATER IN HYDROCARBON, DISCHARGING RESIDUAL BRINE CONTAINING AN INCREASED SALT CONCENTRATION AND RESULTING EXTRACT OR WATER IN HYDROCARBON INTO A SEPARATION ZONE AND SEPARATING RESIDUAL BRINE FROM SAID EXTRACT, PASSING SAID EXTRACT IN COUNTERCURRENT INDIRECT HEAT EXCHANGE WITH SAID MIXTURE OF HYDROCARBON AND BRINE THEREBY COOLING SAID EXTRACT TO A TEMPERATURE EFFECTIVE FOR LIBERATION OF WATER FROM SAID EXTRACT TO FORM A WATER PHASE AND A HYDROCARBON LIQUID PHASE, AND SEPARATING RELATIVELY SALT-FREE WATER LIBERATED FROM SAID EXTRACT FROM SAID HYDROCARBON LIQUID PHASE.