Recycle of reclaimed water in partial oxidation process

Claim 1

In a partial oxidation process for producing gaseous mixtures containing H 2 , CO, water, soot, gaseous materials including one or more of CO 2 , H 2 S, COS, CH 4 , NH 3 and N 2 and between 100 and 700 ppm ash particles comprising materials including vanadium, sulfur, nickel, iron, calcium, sodium, molybdenum, or their reaction products, the particles having an average particle size less than one micrometer, by the partial oxidation of a hydrocarbonaceous feed with an oxygen-containing gas; contacting the gaseous mixture with water in a gas quenching or scrubbing step or both; removing a water stream from this step containing soot; dissolved gaseous materials and suspended ash particles; adding a liquid organic extractant to the stream; feeding the stream to a decanter wherein aqueous and organic phase form; removing from the bottom of the decanter the aqueous phase containing water, dissolved gaseous material, soot and the suspended ash particles; feeding the dissolved aqueous phase to water flash separator wherein the dissolved gases are flashed off; and removing from the bottom of the water flash separator the remaining liquid phase for recycle to the quenching or scrubbing step and purging part of this liquid phase; the improvement comprising concentrating the suspended ash particles in the purge stream using a hydrocyclone having a maximum diameter of 10 mm.