Separating hydrocarbons with dihydrolevoglucosenone or a derivative of dihydrolevoglucosenone as a solvent

Process for separating unsaturated hydrocarbons from a mixture of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons, which process comprises the steps of

• (a) contacting the mixture with a solvent;
• (b) allowing to form two phases in equilibrium, a first phase comprising solvent and unsaturated hydrocarbons and a second phase comprising the remainder of the mixture;
• (c) removing the phases separately;
• and
• (d) removing (i) unsaturated hydrocarbons from the first phase, (ii) saturated hydrocarbons from the second phase, or (iii) unsaturated hydrocarbons from the first phase and saturated hydrocarbons from the second phase, to obtain at least one product stream and regenerated solvent for use in step (a),
• wherein the solvent comprises dihydrolevoglucosenone.