Alcohols properties/recovery

Occurs in nature in abundance the principal forms are bauxites and lat-erites. The mineral corundum is used to produce precious gems, such as ruhy and sapphire. Activated aluminas are used extensively as adsorbents because of their affinity for water and other polar molecules and as catalysts because of their large surface area and appropriate pore sturcture. As adsorbents, they are used for drying gases and liquids and in adsorption chromatography. Catalytic properties may be attributed to the presence of surface active sites (primarily OFT, 02, and AF+ ions). Such catalytic applications include sulfur recovery from H2S (Clauss catalysis) dehydration of alcohols, isomerization of olefins and as a catalyst support in petroleum refining. 

It is reasonable and widely accepted that the back-transfer process of proteins and other solutes is governed by an interfacial process and by a coalescence of the reverse micelles at the oil-water interface. According to the previous report, alcohol promotes the fusion/fission of the reverse micelles [11]. Such a modification in the dynamic property of reverse micellar droplets also affects the coalescence of the droplets and the bulk aqueous solution, and in this study results in an assistance in the release of proteins from the droplets. However, besides the alcohol addition, the appropriate pH and salt concentration in the recovery aqueous phase is required for protein release from the droplets into the recovery phase. The salt concentration leads to an osmotic effect and results in a swelling of the droplets in the presence of alcohol. The swelling droplets would... 

Foam exhibits higher apparent viscosity and lower mobility within permeable media than do its separate constituents.(1-3) This lower mobility can be attained by the presence of less than 0.1% surfactant in the aqueous fluid being injected.(4) The foaming properties of surfactants and other properties relevant to surfactant performance in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes are dependent upon surfactant chemical structure. Alcohol ethoxylates and alcohol ethoxylate derivatives were chosen to study techniques of relating surfactant performance parameters to chemical structure. These classes of surfactants have been evaluated as mobility control agents in laboratory studies (see references 5 and 6 and references therein). One member of this class of surfactants has been used in three field trials.(7-9) These particular surfactants have well defined structures and chemical structure variables can be assigned numerical values. Commercial products can be manufactured in relatively high purity. 

The nonyl aldehyde coproduct of the azelaic half aldehyde is a useful intermediate after being transformed into the corresponding alcohol, acid, or amine, it is a raw material for plastics. Several years ago, I. Sakurada, Kyoto University, the inventor of Vinylon, found that when nonyl aldehyde is used instead of formalin for acetalization of poly (vinyl alcohol), the properties of Vinylon yarns are considerably improved, especially in elastic recovery. 

Properties Clear, colorless oil fruity odor and taste. D 0.87 bp 187C. Soluble in alcohol, chloroform, and ether insoluble in water. Combustible. Derivation By heating enanthic acid and ethanol in the presence of sulfuric acid and subsequent recovery by distillation. 

The extensive research on microemulsions was prompted by two oil crises in 1973 and 1979, respectively. To optimise oil recovery, the oil reservoirs were flooded with a water-surfactant mixture. Oil entrapped in the rock pores can thus be removed easily as a microemulsion with an ultra-low interfacial tension is formed in the pores (see Section 10.2 in Chapter 10). Obviously, this method of tertiary oil recovery requires some understanding of the phase behaviour and interfacial tensions of mixtures of water/salt, crude oil and surfactant [4]. These in-depth studies were carried out in the 1970s and 1980s, yielding very precise insights into the phase behaviour of microemulsions stabilised by non-ionic [5, 6] and ionic surfactants [7-9] and mixtures thereof [10]. The influence of additives, like hydro- and lyotropic salts [11], short- and medium-chain alcohols (co-surfactant) [12] on both non-ionic [13] and ionic microemulsions [14] was also studied in detail. The most striking and relevant property of micro emulsions in technical applications is the low or even ultra-low interfacial tension between the water excess phase and the oil excess phase in the presence of a microemulsion phase. The dependence of the interfacial tension on salt [15], the alcohol concentration [16] and temperature [17] as well as its interrelation with the phase behaviour [18, 19] can be regarded as well understood. 

Effects of Alcohols. Alcohols are common additives to many surfactant formulations being considered for oil recovery. Wade (12) has studied the effect of alcohol additions on interfacial properties and phase behavior for pure alkyl benzene sulfonates. 

Mechanical properties and control of particle size are the main drawbacks of CLEAs. Particles are compressible and shear sensitive and size is usually small so that recovery of the biocatalyst may pose a problem for conventional reactor configurations (see Chapter 5). To solve that problem, basket-type bioreactors can be used or else the biocatalyst can be modified. An interesting approach is the encapsulation of CLEAs within polymer gels, as shown in Fig. 4.4c. Entrapment of CLEAs within polyvinyl alcohol lens-shaped gel particles (LentiKats) produced very robust biocatalysts of a convenient size to be easily recovered (Wilson et al. 2004c). 

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