Patent ID: 8653308

Claim:
A process for producing a water stream, comprising the steps of: hydrogenating acetic acid in a reactor in the presence of a catalyst to form a crude ethanol product; separating at least a portion of the crude ethanol product in a first column into a first distillate comprising ethanol, water and ethyl acetate, and a first residue comprising acetic acid; separating at least a portion of the first distillate in a second column into a second distillate comprising ethyl acetate and a second residue comprising ethanol and water; separating at least a portion of the second residue in a third column into a third distillate comprising ethanol and a third residue; hydrolyzing at least a portion of the second distillate with at least a portion of the third residue, wherein the third residue comprises: at least 97 wt. % water; less than 0.5 wt. % acetic acid; less than 0.005 wt. % ethanol; and less than 0.001 wt. % ethyl acetate.