Separation of Ethanol From Isopropanol by Azeotropic Distillation

This invention relates to a method for separating ethanol from isopropanol using certain organic liquids as the agent in azeotropic distillation.

Azeotropic distillation is the method of separating close boiling compounds or azeotropes from each other by carrying out the distillation in a multiplate rectification column in the presence of an added liquid, said liquid forming an azeotrope with one or both of the compounds to be separated. Its presence on each plate of the rectification column alters the relative volatility in a direction to make the separation on each plate greater and thus require either fewer plates to effect the same separation or make possible a greater degree of separation with the same number of plates. The azeotrope forming agent is introduced with the feed to a continuous column. The azeotrope forming agent and the more volatile component are taken off as overhead product and the less volatile component comes off as bottoms product. The usual methods of separating the azeotrope former from the more volatile component are cooling and phase separation or solvent extraction.

The usual method of evaluating the effectiveness of azeotropic distillation agents is the change in relative volatility of the compounds to be separated. Table 1 shows the degree of separation or purity obtainable by theoretical plates at several relative volatilities. Table 1 shows that a relative volatility of at least 1.2 is required to get an effective separation by rectification.

There are a number of commercial processes which produce complex mixtures of alcohols, e.g. the Fischer-Tropsch process which produces a series of homologous alcohols. Two of the commonest alcohols usually present are ethanol, B.P.=78.degree. C. and isopropanol, B.P=82.degree. C. The relative volatility between these two is 1.18 which makes it very difficult to separate them by conventional rectification. Azeotropic distillation would be an attractive method of effecting the separation of ethanol from isopropanol if agents can be found that (1) will create a large apparent relative volatility between ethanol and isopropanol and (2) are easy to recover from the ethanol. Table 2 shows the relative volatility required to obtain 99% purity. With no agent, the relative volatility is 1.18 and 75 actual plates are required. With an agent giving a relative volatility of 2.0, only 16 plates are required.

The object of this invention is to provide a process or method of azeotropic distillation that will enhance the relative volatility of ethanol from isopropanol in their separation in a rectification column. It is a further object of this invention to identify organic compounds which in addition to the above constraints, are stable, can be separated from ethanol and recycled to the azeotrope column with little decomposition.

The objects of this invention are to provide a process for separating ethanol from isopropanol which entails the use of certain organic compounds as the agent in azeotropic distillation.

I have discovered that certain organic compounds will greatly improve the relative volatility of ethanol to isopropanol and permit the separation of ethanol from isopropanol by rectification when employed as the agent in azeotropic distillation. Table 3 lists the compounds that I have found to be effective. They are carbon tetrachloride, acetonitrile and methylene chloride.

The usefulness or utility of this invention can be demonstrated by referring to the data presented in Tables 2 and 3. All of the successful agents show that ethanol can be separated from isopropanol by means of azeotropic distillation in a rectification column and that the ease of separation as measured by relative volatility is considerable.

Thirty grams of isopropanol, ten grams of ethanol and 40 grams of acetonitrile were charged to a vapor-liquid equilibrium still and refluxed for 15 hours. Analysis indicated a vapor composition of 73.9% isopropanol, 26.1% ethanol; a liquid composition of 78.6% isopropanol, 21.4% ethanol. This is a relative volatility of 1.3.

Thirty grams of ethanol, 70 grams of isopropanol and 150 grams of methylene chloride were placed in the stillpot of a 5.6 theoretical plate glass perforated plate rectification column and refluxed for 1.5 hours. The overhead composition was 98.6% ethanol, 1.4% isopropanol; the bottoms composition was 58.2% ethanol, 41.8% isopropanol. This is a relative volatility of 2.05.