Method for recovering alcohols

Claim 1

A process for the recovery of alcohols from a mixture produced by the liquid phase oxidation of mixed aliphatic saturated hydrocarbons having 10 to 20 carbon atoms with a gas containing molecular oxygen in the presence of a boron compound selected from the group consisting of ortho-boric acid, meta-boric acid, boric anhydride, and boric esters, comprising the steps of: 1. immediately contacting the mixture with sufficient water to hydrolyze the borate esters of the alcohols formed at a temperature in the vicinity of 100° C., separating the resulting oil layer from the aqueous layer, and removing the resulting aqueous layer containing boric acid; 2. saponifying the oil layer of step (1) with an alkali, at a temperature in the range of from 100° to 200° C. and a pressure of at least one atmosphere, to decrease the saponification value to less than one, and water-washing the oil layer; 3. adding a sufficient amount of a boron compound selected from the group consisting of ortho-boric acid, meta-boric acid, and boric anhydride, to the resulting oil layer and heating the resulting mixture at a temperature of from 100° to 150° C. for a period of from 0.5 to 3 hours, to convert all alcohols therein into their borates; 4. distilling the resulting mixture of step (3) to separate predominantly unreacted hydrocarbons from the residue; 5. contacting the residue of step (4) with water, at about 100° C. and for about 1 hour, separating the aqueous layer to remove the resulting boric acid from the oil layer, and water-washing the oil layer; and 6. fractionally distilling the oil layer obtained in step (5) to recover the desired alcohols.