Patent ID: 6860971

Claim:
A process for the recovery of acrylonitrile from a reactor effluent stream comprising acrylonitrile, water, and organic impurities, comprising the steps of: quenching an ammoxidation reactor effluent stream that comprises acrylonitrile, water, and organic impurities with an aqueous quench stream, thereby producing a cooled reactor effluent stream; passing the cooled reactor effluent stream through an absorption column, thereby generating an absorber bottoms stream that comprises water, acrylonitrile, and organic impurities; and passing the absorber bottoms stream through a column consisting essentially of a single recovery and stripper column without an enrichment column, to generate an acrylonitrile-rich overhead stream, a lean water side stream, and a recovery and stripper bottoms stream that comprises organic impurities.