Solvent recovery process

Claim 1

A process of recovering organic solvent from a liquid waste product comprising an organic solvent in which polymeric material is dispersed or dissolved which waste product is heat convertible by the steps of (a) dispersing the liquid waste product in particulate form in water in the presence of an effective amount of an inorganic suspending agent to prevent agglomeration of said waste product, said suspending agent selected from the group consisting of bentonite, and activated clays of the hectorite type; (b) heating the dispersion to boiling point to strip off steam and organic solvent vapour; (c) condensing the evolved steam and organic vapour and separating the water therefrom; and (d) recovering the residue as an aqueous freeflowing slurry of solid granule particles, said liquid waste product being further characterised in that a film of the liquid waste not more than 2 mm thick when heated in air at 100° C. for 60 minutes yields a residue insoluble in acetone.