PROCEDE DE PURIFICATION DE LACTAMES

摘要

The invention concerns a method for purifying lactams, more particularly lactams obtained by cyclizing hydrolysis of aminonitrile. More particularly, the invention concerns the purification of epsilon -caprolactam obtained by cyclizing hydrolysis of aminocapronitrile which consists in eliminating the ammonia from the reaction medium of the hydrolysis then in recuperating the lactam from said medium in purified form. Said recuperation is carried out by performing at least a distillation of the lactam in the presence of a base producing optionally a fronts fraction comprising compounds more volatile than the lactam, a fraction comprising the lactam to be recuperated to the degree of desired purity and a distillation tails comprising the lactam and compounds less volatile than the lactam. The distillation tails are treated by various processes such as evaporation in thin layers to recuperate the major part of the comprised caprolactam and recycling the latter in the purification process. The invention enables a high rate of recuperation of the caprolactam contained in the hydrolysis medium, while observing the required criteria of purity.