METHOD FOR THE DISTILLATIVE SEPARATION OF A MIXTURE CONTAINING VINYL ETHER AND ALCOHOL

Process for distillatively separating a mixture containing a vinyl ether of the general formula (I) R1-O-CH CH2 (I) and alcohol of the general formula (II) R2-OH (II) in which R1 and R2 are each independently a saturated or unsaturated, aliphatic or cycloaliphatic radical having from 2 to 10 carbon atoms, and in which the alcohol (II) has a boiling point which is at least 1° C. higher, measured at or extrapolated to 0.1 MPa abs, than the vinyl ether (I), by a) passing the mixture into a first distillation column and withdrawing, as a top product, an azeotrope containing vinyl ether (I) and alcohol (II) and, as a bottom product, a stream enriched with the alcohol (II); b) passing the azeotrope containing vinyl ether (I) and alcohol (II) from the first distillation column into a second distillation column which is operated at a pressure which is from 0.01 to 3 MPa higher compared to the first distillation column, and withdrawing, as a bottom product or gaseous sidestream in the stripping section, the vinyl ether (I) and, as a top product, an azeotrope containing vinyl ether (I) and alcohol (II); and c) recycling the azeotrope containing vinyl ether (I) and alcohol (II) from the second distillation column into the first distillation column.