Process for producing carbon tetrachloride and perchloroethylene

Claim 1

IN A PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF CARBON TETRACHLORIDE, PERCHLOROETHYLENE OR MIXTURES THEREOF COMPRISING THERMALLY CHLORINATING IN THE VAPOR PHASE AT LEAST ONE MEMBER SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF LOWR ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS AND PARTIALLY CHLORINATED DERIVATIVESS THEREOF IN A REACTION ZONE TO PRODUCE AN EFFLUENT CONTAINING CHLOROCARBONS, HYDROGEN CHLORIDE AND CHLORINE, AND QUENCHING SAID EFFLUENT IN A QUENCH ZONE CONTAINING A QUECH MEDIUM CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF CARBON TETRACHLORIDE AND PERCHLOROETHYLENE, THE IMPROVEMENT COMPRISING MAINTAINING CONDITIONS OF SAID QUENCH ZONE TO EFFECT SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETE CONDENSTAION OF ALL THE CHLOROCARBONS OF SAID EFFLUENT, SCRUBBING UNCONDENSED VAPOR COMPRISING HYDROGEN CHLORIDE AND CHLORINE FROM SAID QUENCH ZONE WITH REFRIGERATED ABSORBENT CONSISTING ESSENTIALLY OF CARBON TETRACHLORIDE AND PERCHLOROETHYLENE TO ABSORB SAID CHLORINE FROM SAID HYDROGEN CHLORIDE AND FORM CHLORINE-RICH SCRUBBER LIQUOR, REMOVING CONDENSATECONTAINING QUENCH MEDIUM FROM SAID QUENCH ZONE, COMBINING SAID REMOVED CONDENSATE-CONTAINING QUENCH MEDIUM WITH SAID CHLORINE-RICH SCRUBBER LIQUOR AND SUBJECTING THE RESULTANT MIXTURE TO A STRIPPING STEP TO SEPARATE CHLORINE AS OVERHEAD AND SCRUBBER LIQUOR AS STRIPPER BOTTOMS, RECYCLING SEPARATED CHLORINE TO SAID REACTION ZONE AND RECOVERING PRODUCT CHLOROCARBONS FROMA PORTION OF THE STRIPPER BOTTOMS, THE REMAINDER OF THE STRIPPER BOTTOMS BEING RECYCLED TO SAID SCRUBBING STEP AFTER REFRIGERATING AS SAID ABSORBENT.