Laboratory scale equipment

2 Laboratory scale supercritical CO2 extractors. So-called SFE extractors are commercially available from upwards of eight manufacturers fqr a cost of about ten times that of the liquid CO2 Soxhlet. The SFE apparatus is 

The equipment provides useful reference evaluation samples and offers a means of quickly evaluating the quality and yield of extracts from plant materials prior to large-scale extraction and is thus valuable for quality control. However, the provision of multiple extractors in one machine would make it more versatile. One such instrument could then replace a bank of Soxhlet extractors for use in quality control work. Equipment of this type from at least six manufacturers is available in the UK. 

Atkin [4] has recently published some comments on SFE equipment available today. These are made from a user s angle and are based on practical experience [4]. His paper concludes . the technique is far from mature. Few methods have yet been developed for routine use and little is known about its effectiveness in quantitative analysis . 

Both the liquid carbon dioxide Soxhlet and SFE equipment are useful for obtaining reference samples from known raw materials. These samples can then be used as standards for evalutating the quality of commercially available extracts. 

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Various companies licence technology, lease laboratory-scale equipment for companies to try out, conduct short- or long-term feasibility or pilot studies. EDF [101], e.g., lends free of charge movable pilot plants, cf. Fig. 6. 

Many workers have demonstrated the effectiveness of parametric pumping in order to achieve separations in laboratory-scale equipment. It is mainly liquid systems that have been studied, using either temperature or pH as the control variable. Pressure parametricpumping is described in a US patent and is discussed by Yang(3). 

Our method for measuring leach rates is thought superior to other methods currently in use. Meaningful leach rate data can be obtained using relatively simple laboratory scale equipment coupled with standard NAA techniques. More detailed information can be procured by applying radiochemical separations and more sophisticated counting methods. The experimental technique described here is applicable to the measurement of leach rates for the elements of interest, from any solid waste form, in any potential storage environment. 

Based on the results from laboratory-scale equipment and the first production plants, the basic economics of the process were calculated. The processing costs are between 0.15 and 0.60 Euro/kg (composition of costs investment 20%, personell 37%, and operating 43%) and vary depending on the substances to be micronized, the scale of the equipment, etc. 

An abundance of literature describes how experimental rate data and insights into catalytic chemistry help us understand reaction mechanisms, formulate improved catalysts, and generate kinetic models. However, this literature typically is oriented toward engineering and is beyond the needs of most scientists investigating catalysts in laboratory-scale equipment. 

The product yields of the beech wood reference experiment pyroiysed with the laboratory scale equipment are satisfactory compared to the results of the PDU scale pyrolysis. 

Although this model is derived from first principles and uses a minimum of empirical information, the model predictions have been found to agree fairly well with experimental data in a number of cases and may thus be adequate for design purposes. However, the empirical relationships are derived from experiments with laboratory scale equipment, and this has caused the validity of their application to large industrial units to be questioned. 

The above technique can of course be applied quite easily to characterize mixing conditions in laboratory scale equipment, but can also in principle be applied to characterize the mixing performance of full scale equipment. 

This requires laboratory-scale equipment that will allow a simulation of the conditions attainable on the plant. 

For the sizing and estimation of purchase costs, when designing laboratory-scale equipment, data are provided by Ernst et al. (1999). Note that such data are based upon similar laboratory-scale equipment. 

UF is practiced in the laboratory and on a large scale industrially. The approach can differ radically. Industrially, UF always involves cros ow, with conversion per pass generally quite low. Laboratory applications often use stirred cells, which give an approach to crossflow. Scale-up of laboratory rate data is difficult unless the laboratory-scale equipment is designed carefully and the engineer is experienced. O casionally, when dilute solutions are processed in the lab, UF is run as a conventional unstirred normal flow filter. This application is similar to ordinary filtration and is not treated here. 

All these types have commercial niches in which they dominate, but generally there is overlap in the utility of the various configurations. Large vrfiumes of feed are processed in either thio-channel devices (capillary, spiral, plate-and-fiame) or open-channel devices (tubes). By comparison, open-channel devices ate robust, tolerant of debris, expensive, and big thin-channel devices are intolerant of debris (especially fibers), more compact, and less expensive. Laboratory-scale equipment is usually stirred cell or mirri-thin channel. 

For material choice, several aspects were considered and Hastelloy C22 was chosen in accordance with the laboratory-scale equipment. 

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