NOVELTY - Producing ethanol, involves: hydrogenating acetic acid in the reactor (103) in presence of catalyst to form crude ethanol product; separating portion of crude ethanol product in a first distillation column (107) to yield first distillate comprising ethanol, ethyl acetate, and water, and first residue comprising acetic acid; separating a portion of the first distillate in a second distillation column (108) to yield a second distillate comprising ethyl acetate and a second residue comprising ethanol and water; dehydrating a portion of the second residue via extractive distillation.    USE - For producing ethanol (claimed), which is used in fuels, solvents, chemical feedstocks, pharmaceutical products, cleansers, sanitizers, or hydrogenation transport; for motor vehicles such as automobiles, boats and small piston engine aircraft; and in non-fuel applications, i.e. used as a solvent for toiletry and cosmetic preparations, detergents, disinfectants, coatings, inks; also used as a processing solvent, e.g. in manufacturing processes for medicinal products, food preparations, dyes, photochemicals and latex processing; used as a chemical feedstock to make other chemicals such as vinegar, ethyl acrylate, ethyl acetate, ethylene, glycol ethers, ethylamines, aldehydes, and higher alcohols, especially butanol; as a feed stock in esters production.    ADVANTAGE - The stream comprising the recovered extractive agent promotes separation in the extractive distillation column. The recovered extractive agent, facilitates the separation of ethanol from the crude ethanol product, and, accordingly facilitates production of the anhydrous ethanol composition. The process improves overall process efficiency and reduce cost by decreasing water use and/or consumption. The ability to recycle water promotes heat integration throughout the system, which reduces energy consumption.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Producing ethanol, involves: hydrogenating acetic acid in the reactor (103) in the presence of a catalyst to form a crude ethanol product; separating at least a portion of the crude ethanol product in a first distillation column (107) to yield a first distillate comprising ethanol, ethyl acetate, and water, and a first residue comprising acetic acid; separating at least a portion of the first distillate in a second distillation column (108) to yield a second distillate comprising ethyl acetate and a second residue comprising ethanol and water; dehydrating at least a portion of the second residue via extractive distillation to yield an anhydrous ethanol composition comprising less that 1 wt.% water. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for a system (100) for producing an anhydrous ethanol composition, comprising: a reactor for hydrogenating acetic acid in the presence of a catalyst to form a crude ethanol product; a first column for separating at least a portion of the crude ethanol product into a first distillate comprising ethanol, water and ethyl acetate, and a first residue comprising acetic acid; a second column for separating at least a portion of the crude ethanol product into a second distillate comprising ethyl acetate and a second residue comprising ethanol and water; a dehydrator for dehydrating at least a portion of the second residue to form the anhydrous ethanol composition (having less than 1 wt.% water).    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a schematic diagram of a hydrogenation system.    System (100)    Reactor (103)    First distillation column (107)    Second distillation column (108)    Anhydrous ethanol composition third column (109)