Process for recovering methanol

A process for recovering methanol from mixtures containing methanol and water, comprising

• a) a multistage evaporation with a series of at least two evaporation stages, wherein each evaporation stage comprises an evaporator and provides a vaporous overhead product at an operating pressure, said pressure is reduced along said series of evaporation stages and the evaporator of a second evaporation stage and each subsequent evaporation stage is heated with the vaporous overhead product of the preceding stage, and
• b) a series of at least two distillation stages, wherein each distillation stage comprises a distillation column and an evaporator and provides a bottoms product and a vaporous overhead product at an operating pressure, said bottoms product is supplied to the subsequent distillation stage along said series of distillation stages, said pressure is increased along said series of distillation stages and wherein, with the exception of a final distillation stage, in each distillation stage the evaporator is heated by the vaporous overhead product of the subsequent distillation stage,
• wherein a bottoms product obtained in a final evaporation stage of said multistage evaporation is supplied to a first distillation stage of said series of distillation stages.