Column central role

According to Coimbra et solvents play a central role in the majority of chemical and pharmaceutical industrial processes. The most used method to obtain artemisinin (1) from A. annua is through the use of organic solvents such as toluene, hexane, cyclohexane, ethanol, chloroform and petroleum ether. Rodrigues et al described a low-cost and industrial scaled procedure that enables artemisinin (1) enhanced yields by using inexpensive and easy steps. Serial extraction techniques allowed a reduction of 65% in solvent consumption. Moreover, the use of ethanol for compound extraction is safer when compared to other solvents. Flash column pre-purification employing silicon dioxide (Zeosil ) as stationary phase provided an enriched artemisinin (1) fraction that precipitated in hexane/ethyl acetate (85/15, v/v) solution. These results indicate the feasibility of producing artemisinin (1) at final cost lowered by almost threefold when compared to classical procedures. 

The point to note here is the important role of thermodynamics, in that the schematic design of the process to separate the feed mixture into two strearns of specified purity was based completely on vapor-liquid equilibrium. The fact that an azeotrope occurred dictated that the desired separation could not be obtained with a single distillation column. Then how the azeotropic composition changed with temperature was the basis for whether a second column of higher or lower pressure should be used. This example is just one illustration of the very central role of thermodynamics in general, and vapor-liquid equilibrium in particular, in the design of separations processes in chemi-. cal engineering. 

Sulfur fulfills many diverse roles in lakes. As the sixth most abundant element in biomass, it is required as a major nutrient by all organisms. For most algae, S is abundant in the form of sulfate in the water column however, in dilute glacial lakes in Alaska (I) and in some central African lakes (2) low concentrations of sulfate may limit primary production. Sulfur also serves the dual role of electron acceptor for respiration and, in reduced forms, source of energy for chemolithotrophic secondary production. Net sulfate reduction can account for 10-80% of anaerobic carbon oxidation in lakes (3-5), and hence this process is important in carbon and energy flow. Sulfate reduction, whether associated with uptake of sulfate and incorpo-... 

Liver tissue contains an array of cell types, but the preponderant one is the hepatocyte. It has an overall structure much like that of the cell in Fig. 1-3. The cells are arranged in long, branching columns of about 20 cells in a cross section around a central bile cannaliculus (channel). Into the cannaliculus the cells secrete bile. The liver is the main producer of urea (Chap. 15), stores glycogen (Chap. 11). synthesizes many of the amino acids used by other tissues (Chap. 3), and produces serum proteins, among many other metabolic roles. 

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