Chromatographic method for recovery of ethylene glycol

摘要

Ethylene glycol contained in washings discharged from an ethylene oxide production process by gas phase oxidation of ethylene with oxygen, is recovered by passing the washings along pipe 6 to a chromatographic separation column 1 whose lower part is packed with a cation exchange resin 2 in salt form. Water from pipe 3 is used to elute the column 1, the effluent from the column 1 being divided into at least three fractions of which at least one is an ethylene glycol-rich fraction, the others containing e.g. organic acids or coloured materials. At least one of the other fractions which contains low concentrations of ethylene glycol is recycled via pipe 7.