| abstract |
This invention provides for a process for separating extractable organic material from a feed composition comprising an oil-in-water emulsion comprising a continuous aqueous phase, a discontinuous organic liquid phase comprising said extractable organic material, and solids dispersed in said emulsion, the process comprising the steps of: (I) mixing said feed composition with sufficient shear to convert said feed composition to a water-in-oil emulsion; and (II) contacting said water-in-oil emulsion with at least one organic solvent, said organic solvent being capable of forming with said emulsion a system comprising at least two phases and being capable of dissolving at least about ten parts of said extractable organic material per million parts of said organic solvent at the temperature wherein at least about 50% by weight of said solvent boils at atmospheric pressure; forming a system comprising at least two phases, one of said phases being an emulsion phase comprising said emulsion and the other of said phases being a solvent phase comprising said solvent; replacing at least part of said extractable organic material with part of said solvent, the replaced extractable organic material being dispersed in said solvent phase; and separating said emulsion phase from said solvent phase. In one embodiment, the inventive process includes the additional steps of: separating an effective amount of said organic solvent from said separated emulsion phase to cause separation of said separated emulsion phase into an organic-rich phase and a water-rich phase; and separating said organic-rich phase from said water-rich phase. The solids can be present in either the separated organic-rich phase or the separated water-rich phase. The invention provides for post-treatment procedures for separating any extractable organic material remaining intermixed with the solids using solvent extraction, incineration, wet oxidation, or pyrolysis techniques, or a combination thereof. |