Miscible solvent treatment

1. A method of removing solvents miscible in water from water wherein the miscible solvents have an azeotrope boiling point less than 100° C. by

implementing a stripping process using steam and air as the stripping gases, the method comprising the steps of:

heating water containing a miscible solvent until the water boils to produce a mixture of steam and miscible solvent vapors;

introducing air into the mixture of steam and the miscible solvent vapors to produce a mixture of steam, air and the miscible solvent vapors;

cooling the mixture of steam, air and the miscible solvent vapors to condense the steam; and

separating the steam that has been condensed from the air, thereby transferring the miscible solvent to the air.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the miscible solvent is 1,4-dioxane.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising removing the miscible solvent from the air.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the water contains less than 82% 1,4-dioxane by weight.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the water is heated with electric resistance heating.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

removing the miscible solvent from the air using a vapor treatment process.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the air is introduced into the mixture of steam and 1,4-dioxane vapors at an air-to-steam volumetric ratio in the range of about 1.5:1 to 10:1.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the introduction of the air reduces the steam condensation temperature to within a range of about 50° C. to 75° C.

9. The method of claim 2 wherein the mixture of steam, air and 1,4-dioxane vapors is cooled with a contact time in the range of about 0.2 to 10 seconds in a condensing device to condense the steam.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein about 60% to 99% of the steam is condensed.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein separating the condensed steam from the air is performed with a counter-current flow heat exchanger.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the miscible solvent vapors in the gaseous phase are transported to a condenser where the steam is rapidly condensed in a time period that does not allow the miscible solvent to re-adsorb into the condensed liquids.

13. The method of claim 2 wherein the steam is cooled to a condensing temperature in the range of about 20° C. to 40° C.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is performed in-situ.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is performed ex-situ.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising treating the condensed steam by a biological process.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein a portion of the method is performed in-situ and the remainder of the method is performed ex-situ.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the treatment is applied to ground water.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the treatment is applied to waste water.

20. A 1,4-dioxane treatment method comprising the steps of:

heating the water containing less than 82% 1,4-dioxane by electric resistance heating until the water boils to produce steam that contains 1,4-dioxane vapors;

introducing air into the mixture of steam and 1,4-dioxane vapors at an air-to-steam volumetric ratio in the range of approximately 1.5:1 to 10:1 thereby reducing the steam condensation temperature into the range of about 50° C. to 75° C.;

rapidly cooling the mixture of steam, air and 1,4-dioxane vapors to a temperature in the range of about 20° C. to about 40° C. to condense a majority of the steam using a contact time of about 0.2 seconds to 10 seconds in a counter-current heat exchanger system;

separating the steam that has been condensed from the air in a vapor-liquid separation device; and

removing the 1,4-dioxane from the air using a vapor treatment process.