Patent ID: 7223876

Claim:
A method of separating an olefin from a gas stream, wherein the gas stream is an offgas stream resulting from an epoxidation process, said process comprising reacting an olefin with a hydroperoxide to give a product stream comprising olefin, olefin oxide, and solvent, and separating the olefin oxide from said product stream by distillation, wherein at least one inert gas is introduced, to give the offgas stream comprising the olefin, solvent, the at least one inert gas, and 10 wt. % of oxygen or less, said method comprising (i) compressing and cooling the gas stream; (ii) separating the olefin from the gas stream by absorbing the olefin in an absorbent in an absorption unit, wherein no inert gas is additionally added to the absorption unit; and (iii) separating the olefin from the absorbent by desorption; wherein compressing or cooling or compressing and cooling in (i) is carried out at least twice.