Nippon Shokubai Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Jiro Uchii

Yutaka Morimoto

Masatsugu Kodo

Tsunehiko Soga

A method of recovering ethylene oxide from the reaction product gas that is obtained by the catalytic vapor phase oxidation of ethylene with molecular oxygen over a silver-containing catalyst, which comprises conducting the reaction product gas to an absorption column maintained at a pressure in the range of 2 - 40 kg/cm.sup.2, countercurrently contacting reaction product gas with an aqueous absorbent in the absorption column to dissolve ethylene oxide in the aqueous absorbent to form an aqueous ethylene oxide solution, conducting the thus formed aqueous solution to a stripping column, stripping and recovering ethylene oxide from aqueous ethylene oxide solution at the stripping column, and thereafter recycling the remaining aqueous solution which is obtained after stripping ethylene oxide to the absorption column to be again used as the aqueous absorbent; characterized by using as the aqueous absorbent one containing ethylene glycol in the range of 0.1 - 40% by weight and a defoaming agent in the range of 0.5 - 1000 ppm and having a pH in the range of 3 - 12.

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Kamakura, Japan

Jiro Uchii