More extraction-related examples

Suppose we have a feed stream which contains acetic acid (A) and water (W). Because it would not be economically feasible to incinerate the water stream, we d like to extract the acetic acid into an isopropyl ether (I) phase. The isopropyl ether-acetic acid stream could then be used as a fuel stream to another process. Note that the isopropyl ether has a limited solubility in the water, and vice versa. 

Vi and O2 can also be plotted from the given information because they both lie on the solubility envelope (they are leaving the column in equilibrium). The intersection of the lines Oq Vi and O2 locates the A point. 

The mixing point is also shown on the graph, but it is not used to locate Vi as usual since Vi is already specified. A tie-line through Vi locates the point Oi, and the line AOi crosses the solubility envelope at the point V2. 

Now all of the streams are located, and their compositions can be read from the graph. Using the lever-arm rule to find the amounts of the streams  

Note that the countercurrent system provides a higher product flowrate as well as improved separation. 

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When the calibration curves were compared, several compounds at the low end of the calibrated concentration range were affected by components already present in the diesel/oil extract. For example, low-levels of some PNAs and phthalates, present naturally in these refined petroleum products, were detected in the unspiked diesel/oil extract. Also, some of the phenols in this dirty matrix were reactive in the injection liner indeed, the matrix itself can passivate the liner for some target compounds. Passivation in this sense means that the liner surface becomes coated with non-volatile components, forming a barrier between the analyte and the bare, more reactive glass surface. While this issue is not related to ion trap mass spectrometry per se, it will be present in any analytical GC/MS system. As illustrated in the example below, calibration curve linearity (as represented by relative percent standard deviation, or RSDs, of the relative response factor at each calibration concentration level) and correlation coefficients for most compounds in the pure solvent were identical statistically to those prepared in the 3000 ppm diesel/oil matrix spikes, as are shown in Figures 15.36 and 15.37. 

The theoretical treatment which has been developed in Sections 10.2-10.4 relates to mass transfer within a single phase in which no discontinuities exist. In many important applications of mass transfer, however, material is transferred across a phase boundary. Thus, in distillation a vapour and liquid are brought into contact in the fractionating column and the more volatile material is transferred from the liquid to the vapour while the less volatile constituent is transferred in the opposite direction this is an example of equimolecular counterdiffusion. In gas absorption, the soluble gas diffuses to the surface, dissolves in the liquid, and then passes into the bulk of the liquid, and the carrier gas is not transferred. In both of these examples, one phase is a liquid and the other a gas. In liquid -liquid extraction however, a solute is transferred from one liquid solvent to another across a phase boundary, and in the dissolution of a crystal the solute is transferred from a solid to a liquid. 

Equilibrium data correlations can be extremely complex, especially when related to non-ideal multicomponent mixtures, and in order to handle such real life complex simulations, a commercial dynamic simulator with access to a physical property data-base often becomes essential. The approach in this text, is based, however, on the basic concepts of ideal behaviour, as expressed by Henry s law for gas absorption, the use of constant relative volatility values for distillation and constant distribution coeficients for solvent extraction. These have the advantage that they normally enable an explicit method of solution and avoid the more cumbersome iterative types of procedure, which would otherwise be required. Simulation examples in which more complex forms of equilibria are employed are STEAM and BUBBLE. 

The problem is much more difficult when the defensive compounds are distributed throughout the insect body and no clues are available as to which type of compounds are present. In this case, a H NMR spectrum on the insect total extract will usually not be helpful, and a reliable bioassay is needed to follow the biological activity through the fractionation process. Repellency bioassays using ants [9] or spiders [10] have been successfully used for this purpose. Chemotaxonomy can also be very helpful, as taxonomically related insects tend to produce the same kind of defensive chemicals. Thus, once the latter have been identified for a few species, the study of other species belonging to the same group is usually much simplified. A good example is provided by coc-... 

A more recent example of this technique has been the study on human absorption characteristics of fexofenadine [109], Fexofenadine has been shown to be a substrate for P-gp in the in vitro cell lines its disposition is altered in knockout mice lacking the gene for MDRla, and co-administration of P-gp inhibitors (e.g. ketoconazole and verapamil) was shown to increase the oral bioavailability of fexofenadine [110-113], Hence, it is suggested that the pharmacokinetics of fexofenadine appears to be determined by P-gp activity. In the human model, the intestinal permeability estimated on the basis of disappearance kinetics from the jejunal segment is low, and the fraction absorbed is estimated to be 2% [114], Co-administration of verapamil/ketoconazole did not affect the intestinal permeability estimates however, an increased extent of absorption (determined by de-convolution) was demonstrated. The increased absorption of fexofenadine was not directly related to inhibition of P-gp-mediated efflux at the apical membrane of intestinal cells as intestinal Peff was unchanged. Furthermore, the effect cannot be explained by inhibition of intestinal based metabolism, as fexofenadine is not metabolised to any major extent. It was suggested that this may reflect modulation of efflux transporters in hepatocyte cells, thereby reducing hepatobiliary extraction of fexofenadine. 

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