Process for obtaining purified aqueous hydrogen peroxide solutions

A process for obtaining purified aqueous hydrogen peroxide solutions, providing concentrated aqueous hydrogen peroxide solutions with a reduced content of impurities, comprising evaporating a crude aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution containing organic and/or inorganic impurities to obtain a vapour phase consisting of a mixture of water, hydrogen peroxide, volatile impurities and impurities which have been entrained with said vapour phase, and rectifying this vapour phase to produce an aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution depleted in impurities, wherein said vapour phase is fed in at the foot of a distillation column provided in its lower part with a washing zone and in its upper part with a rectification section, where the vapour phase is washed in the washing zone with a small flow of liquid which refluxes in the bottom of the column and which has the same composition as the product purified aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution, and where purified aqueous hydrogen peroxide solution is drawn off at a side of the distillation column at a column height such that the draw-off takes place in the upper part of said washing zone and wherein a residue consisting of a small flow of washing liquid, which contains most of the impurities, is collected at and removed from the bottom of the column, further wherein the washing zone of the distillation column has a column diameter which is greater than the diameter of the rectification section.