Patent ID: 6447685
Filing Date: 2002-09-10
Classification: B01D,C02F,D06F,Y10S

Abstract:
A process for separating water-containing solvent mixtures having two or more phases comprising the stepsa) feeding the mixture to be separated to a coalescence separator (1); b) enlarging a volume of droplets of one component of the mixture in the coalescence separator (1); c) feeding the solvent mixture with enlarged droplet volume to a gravitational separator (4); d) separating the solvent mixture in the gravitational separator (4) into a first phase A (6), which is composed predominantly of solvent, into a second phase B (7), which comprises a mixture of water and solvent, and into a third phase C (8), which is composed predominantly of water, wherein the second phase B (7) is pumped from the gravitational separator (4) to the coalescence separator (1), and the pumping is controlled via a sensor (10), which detects the level of the second phase B (7) in the gravitational separator (4).