Patent ID: 8586802

Claim:
A process for recovering dichlorohydrin(s) from a mixture comprising dichlorohydrin(s), one or more compounds comprising ester(s) of chlorohydrin(s), monochlorohydrin(s), and/or multihydroxylated-aliphatic hydrocarbon compound(s) and/or ester(s) thereof; water at a concentration of less than 43 weight percent; and optionally one or more substances comprising, chlorinating agent(s), catalyst(s), ester(s) of catalyst(s), and/or heavy byproduct(s), wherein the process comprises: (a) providing a vapor or liquid phase mixture comprising dichlorohydrin(s), one or more compounds comprising ester(s) of chlorohydrin(s), monochlorohydrin(s), and/or multihydroxylated-aliphatic hydrocarbon compound(s) and/or ester(s) thereof; water at a concentration of less than 43 weight percent; and optionally one or more substances comprising, chlorinating agent(s), catalyst(s), ester(s) of catalyst(s), and/or heavy byproduct(s); (b) distilling or fractionating the mixture of step (a) in one or more unit operations to separate a lower boiling fraction comprising dichlorohydrin(s) and other compounds having a lower boiling point than the dichlorohydrin(s) present in the mixture from the mixture of step (a) to form a higher boiling fraction comprising the residue of the distillation or fractionation of this step (b); (c) distilling or fractionating the higher boiling fraction produced by step (b) to separate dichlorohydrin(s) from the higher boiling fraction components present in the mixture from the mixture of step (b) to form an even higher boiling fraction comprising the residue of the distillation or fractionation of this step (c) and to form a vapor fraction comprising dichlorohydrin(s); (d) recovering at least a portion of the lower boiling fraction produced by step (b) and at least a portion of the vapor fraction produced by step (c); (e) combining the lower boiling fraction produced by step (b) with the vapor fraction produced by step (c) without prior distillation or fractionation of the vapor fraction produced by step (c); (f) recovering dichlorohydrin(s) from the lower boiling fraction produced by step (b) and/or the vapor fraction produced by step (d); and (g) recycling at least a portion of the even higher boiling fraction produced by step (c) to the hydrochlorination step.