Abstract:
A process is proposed for the treatment of a recycling stream (1) from a plant for the production of polyarylene ether sulfones via polycondensation of aromatic bishalogen compounds and of aromatic bisphenols or their salts in the presence of at least one alkali metal carbonate or ammonium carbonate or alkali metal hydrogencarbonate or ammonium hydrogencarbonate in an N-alkyl-2-pyrrolidone as solvent, comprising from 60 to 90% by weight of water, from 10 to 40% by weight of N-alkyl-2-pyrrolidone and, as contaminant detrimental to specification, up to 5000 ppm by weight of the alkylsuccinimide corresponding to the N-alkyl-2-pyrrolidone and, alongside this, up to 1000 ppm by weight of other substances with higher boiling point than N-alkyl-2-pyrrolidone, in particular inorganic salts, based in each case on the total weight of the recycling stream (1), where the entirety of the components gives 100% by weight, giving a pure N-alkyl-2-pyrrolidone stream (2) which can be returned to the plant for the production of polyarylene ether sulfones, via a final distillation in a final column (K), which comprises preceding the final distillation by a preliminary purification by evaporation in one or more evaporator stages for reducing the level of inorganic salts, where one or more vapor streams (3, 4, 5) are obtained which are supplied as feed streams to the final column (K), and where the bottom stream from the last evaporator stage is removed and the bottom stream from the final column (K) is supplied in part or in full to an additional column (K), in which it is separated into a bottom steam (11), which is removed, and into an overhead stream (12), which is recycled to the final column (K).