Dehydration of hydrazine by azeotropic distillation

Abstract
A process was developed for dehydrating aqueous solutions of hydrazine by azeotropic distillation with aniline as an entrainer. The ternary system hydrazine‐water‐aniline, which contains the minimum‐boiling aniline‐water azeotrope and the maximum‐boiling hydrazine‐water azeotrope, was studied by fractionation analysis to determine the position of the ridge or distillation barrier in the vapor and liquid surface. The studies showed that the position and curvature of this ridge were favorable for the production, by rectification, of a solution richer in hydrazine than the azeotropic proportions. The process comprised three operations. Approximately 70% of the hydrazine charged to the system was dehydrated.Entrainers that form binary minimum‐boiling azeotropes with both hydrazine and water are discussed. Ternary systems with these entrainers have saddlepoint azeotropes that boil intermediate with respect to the other invariant components in the system.

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