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Abstract

A process for recovering CO.sub.2 from a mixture of light hydrocarbons, e.g. light hydrocarbons produced from a CO.sub.2 injection enhanced oil recovery. The mixture is distilled in a distributive zone with CO.sub.2 produced overhead and in the bottoms. The overhead and bottoms produced from the distributive zone are then fed to first and second concentrating distillation zones, respectively. The first concentrating zone produces a bottoms product rich in CO.sub.2 and an overhead product rich in methane and lean in CO.sub.2. The second concentrating zone is refluxed with lean oil and produces a CO.sub.2 distillate and a CO.sub.2 -lean bottoms product. In various embodiments, at least a section of each of the concentrating zones are placed in a single column, the CO.sub.2 product streams are taken as a side draw, vapor from the first concentrating zone is used in an open cycle heat pump to heat the second concentrating zone, the distributive zone is thermally coupled with one or both of the concentrating zones, and the distributive zone and certain sections of the concentrating zones are physically integrated into a single column.

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First Claim