NOVELTY - Recovery of butanol comprises: introducing a feed of water-immiscible organic extractant, water, isomer of butanol and optionally non-condensable gas into first distillation column (500); condensing first vaporous overhead stream (170) to produce gas phase and recover first mixed condensate containing butanol phase and aqueous phase; introducing portion of aqueous phase to first distillation column; introducing first portion of butanol phase into second distillation column (800); and operating second distillation column to produce second bottoms stream (420) comprising butanol.    USE - The process is useful for the recovery of butanol, which consists either 1-butanol or isobutanol (claimed), which is useful as fuel or fuel additive.    ADVANTAGE - The recovered butanol in the process is less corrosive than ethanol and yields only carbon dioxide with little or no sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide when burned in the standard internal combustion engine. The process: utilizes plant derived carbon sources to recover butanol, since the negative environmental impacts associated with standard petrochemical processes for butanol production are avoided; and can be carried out at lower temperatures, which avoid or reduce fouling of the heat exchangers associated with the column, as can occur when the extractant in the bottoms stream degrades, through reactions with or catalyzed by fermentation byproducts contained in the bottoms stream, thus makes the recovery process more economical. The extractant is substantially free of the butanol product, which contributes to high yield in the recovery process.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Recovery of butanol comprises: introducing a feed comprising a water-immiscible organic extractant, water, at least one isomer of butanol, and optionally a non-condensable gas into a first distillation column, where the first distillation column has an operating temperature (T1) and an operating pressure (P1) at a predetermined point in the stripping section and optionally a rectifying section at an introduction point above the stripping section, T1 and P1 are selected to produce a first bottoms stream (110) and a first vaporous overhead stream, the first bottoms stream comprises the water-immiscible organic extractant and water which is free of butanol, and the first vaporous overhead stream comprises water, butanol and the optional noncondensable gas; condensing the first vaporous overhead stream to produce a gas phase and recover a first mixed condensate, where the first mixed condensate comprises a butanol phase including butanol and less than 30 wt.% of water, and an aqueous phase including water and less than 10 wt.% of butanol; introducing at least a portion of the aqueous phase to the first distillation column; introducing a first portion of the butanol phase into a second distillation column having at least a stripping section; and operating the second distillation column to produce a second bottoms stream comprising butanol, which is free of water, and a second vaporous overhead stream comprising butanol and water. The extractant extracts butanol over water and is separable from butanol by distillation.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a schematic diagram of the system for the recovery of butanol.    First bottom stream (110)    First vapors overhead stream (170)    Second bottom stream (420)    First distillation column (500)    Second distillation column (800)