| 摘要 |
Alcohols containing more than three carbon atoms in the molecule are separated from their mixtures with hydrocarbons by extracting such a mixture in the liquid phase with at least an equal volume of a solvent, comprising an aqueous solution of an alcohol containing not more than three carbon atoms in the molecule, to yield a hydrocarbon raffinate and an aqueous alcoholic extract, distilling the extract to take at least part of the lower alcohol overhead, and separating the bottoms product of the distillation into an upper layer containing the higher alcohols and a lower aqueous alcohol layer. The hydrocarbon alcohol mixture may be derived, for example, from the hydrogenation of carbon monoxide. The extraction of the starting material is preferably effected with mixtures of C1-C3 alcohols containing from 10 per cent to 80 per cent, preferably about 30 per cent, by volume of water at normal or elevated temperatures. At temperatures in the range 150-250 DEG C. the ester action is carried out at elevated pressure. If ethanol is used as the solvent it is advantageous to separate any methanol therefrom by distillation. Preferably three volumes or more of the aqueous solution of lower alcohol is used per volume of alcohol-hydrocarbon mixture. |
