Recycling and recovery
Solvent distillation
Batch, fractional and thin film distillation, and which one suits your stream.
Solvent distillation separates components by boiling point. Batch distillation suits single solvent streams, fractional distillation separates mixtures, and thin film evaporation handles viscous or heat sensitive material that would foul a conventional still.
Source: 40 CFR 261.6 on recyclable materialsDistillation routes
Batch distillation
One charge at a time, heated until the target fraction is recovered. Simple, robust, and the usual route for a single solvent with suspended contamination.
Fractional distillation
A packed or trayed column separates components with close boiling points. Needed where a stream carries two or more recoverable solvents worth separating.
Thin film evaporation
A wiped film across a heated surface with short residence time. Handles viscous, fouling or heat sensitive material that would degrade or coke in a batch still.
Falling film evaporation
Liquid flows as a thin film down a heated tube under gravity, with very short contact time. Suits heat sensitive material and high throughput single solvent streams.
What decides the route
Boiling point spread decides whether separation is even possible. Two solvents within a few degrees of each other will not separate in a batch still and need a column, which costs more. Contamination decides whether the still can run at all: high solids foul heat transfer surfaces, and dissolved polymer will coke.
This is why a sample matters more than a description. Two drums labelled the same way from two plants can need entirely different equipment, and the difference shows up in the price.
Common questions
How much solvent comes back?
Typically 60 to 90 percent by volume, driven by contamination rather than by the solvent itself. A clean single component stream sits at the top of that range and a heavily loaded mixed stream at the bottom.
Is distillation on site possible?
On site stills exist and suit high volume single solvent operations. They also make you a treatment operation with the regulatory position that brings, so the arithmetic needs to include compliance cost and not just throughput.
What happens to the still bottoms?
They carry the original waste codes under the derived-from rule and go to incineration or fuels blending. Volume is typically 10 to 40 percent of what you started with.
Related services
Not sure how this applies to your site?
Send a profile, an old manifest, or photographs of the drums. A technical professional will tell you where you stand.
This page summarizes federal requirements and is not legal advice. State programs can be more stringent than the federal baseline. Verify against current federal and state regulations before acting. Last reviewed September 2026.