The top section reduces the concentration of propylene glycol in the ethanol distillate to negligible level. The bottom section strips ethanol from water. The bottoms from the second column are sent to the third column, a glycol stripper, where the glycol is recovered. The propylene glycol leaves the stripper as a bottoms product and is recycled back to the extraction column as the source of solvent. The overhead from the glycol stripper (containing mainly water and some ethanol) is sent back to the first column where it combined with fresh feed.