Purification of aqueous solutions of organic acids

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and a device for the purification of an aqueous solution of an organic acid having a boiling point at atmospheric pressure of less than 450° C., which further has approximately 275 g carboxylate ions/l or less, preferably 250 g carboxylate ions/l or less, and preferably less than 1% by weight ionic impurities, calculated on the basis of the total solution. In particular, the invention relates to a method and a device for the continuous purification and concentration, on an industrial scale, of an aqueous solution of an organic acid having a boiling point at atmospheric pressure of less than 450° C. According to the method, this solution is subjected to two or more distillation steps, the first distillation step being carried out at a temperature of from 80° to 150° C. and a pressure of from 50 to 250 mbar, and the second distillation step being carried out at a temperature of from 80° to 200° C. and a pressure of from 0.01 to 50 mbar.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.