Dehydration of alcohols by gasoline extractive distillation

Claim 1

A METHOF OF SIMULTANEOUS DEHYDRATING AQUEOUS ALCOHOLS CONTAINING 2 TO 5 CARBON ATOMS AND PREPARING AN ALCOHOL-GASOLINE BLEND THEREFROM WHICH COMPRISES CONTINUOUSLY FEEDING THE AQUEOUS ALCOHOLS TO A FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION ZONE AT AN INTERMEDIATE POINT THEREOF, CONTINUOUSLY ADDING HYDROCARBON BOILING IN THE GASOLINE BOILING RANGE OF 100* F. TO 430* F. AS SOLVENT TO THE FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION ZONE AT A POINT SUBSTANTIALLY ABOVE THE AQUEOUS ALCOHOLS FEED POINT TO MAINTAIN AN INTERNAL LIQUID REFLUX HAVING A GASOLINE HYDROCARBON CONTENT IN THE RANGE ABOVE 70 MOLE PER CENT BELOW THE POINT OF ADDITION OFTHE GASOLINE HYDROCARBON, DISTILLING FROM SAID AQUEOUS ALCOHOLS A VAPOROUS MIXTURE COMPRISING WATER WHEREIN THE DISTILLED VAPOROUS MIXTURE FLOWS COUNTERCURRENT TO THE GASOLINE HYDROCARBON REFLUX, WITHDRAWINING A DEHYDRATED MIXTURE OF A GASOLINE AND C2 TO C5 ALCOHOLS AS A LOWER SIDESTREAM FROM THE FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION ZONE, AND WITHDRAWING GASOLINE HYDROCARBON SUBSTANTIALLY FREE OF WATER AND ALCOHOLS AS BOTTOMS FROM THE FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION ZONE.