Butyl acetate and butanol striping from waste waters in antibiotic production

The waste waters from the production of antibiotics contain certain quantities of butyl acetate or butanol. For the purpose of their purification by removal of these organic solvents a technology and an installation have been created. The installation described operates steadily with waters tending to cause settling of solids, when heated in a heat exchanger or when decreasing the concentration of the organic solvent in the stripping column. The investigation of the industrial column shows a degree of purification of 99–100% at different regimes of operation. The five year exploitation of the installation for removal of butyl acetate and the two year operation of that for the removal of butanol showed that the solids coagulating from waste water did not settle on the apparatus walls.