methanol content of 28 059 ppm in mole and a water content of 1 ppm in mole if one operates under 25 bars the methanol and water contents of the dry ethane are 18 098 ppm and 1 ppm in mole respectively thereby showing that it is advantageous to operate under a high pressure if a make up desiccant is used which contains 40 in mole of water instead of 50 it is found that the same composition for the dry ethane may be obtained and this with a reduced heat energy consumption and with smaller reflux and make up flow rates 5 tests of drying a gaseous mixture the hexane content of which has been varied have been carried out by using the method in its basic version such as shown on fig1 the gas to be dried consists of a mixture of methane and of n hexane available at a temperature of 50 u00b0 c and at an absolute pressure of 40 bars this gas contains 3 045 ppm mole of water the desiccant used is methanol the gas is dried by distillation in a plant or equipment where the column c1 is fitted with two packing beds the drying packing g2 comprises 7 theoretical plates or decks and the packing for the removal of the desiccant g1 comprises 8 theoretical plates or decks different cases gathered in table 2 have been studied with hexane contents of the gaseous mixture ranging from about 0 1 to 0 5 the cooling temperature in the exchanger e2 is 10 u00b0 c in all the cases the water content of the dry gas is 1 ppm mole and the methanol content of the rejected water.