Other Separations

In order to simplify the analysis of petroleum and its fractions, other preliminary separation techniques are employed, aiming generally to separate certain classes of components. 

This technique is based on the selectivity of a solvent for different families or individual components in a mixture. Solvent extraction can be either analytical or preparatory in function. 

Chapter 2. FRACTIONATION AND ELEMENTAL ANALYSIS OF CRUDE OlLS AND PETROLEUM CUTS 

These methods can be written into standards such as the following  

Cyclohexane containing Water containing the DMSO the polynuclear aromatics 

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Among the other separation processes, one can cite the following ... 

The many approaches to the challenging timestep problem in biomolecular dynamics have achieved success with similar final schemes. However, the individual routes taken to produce these methods — via implicit integration, harmonic approximation, other separating frameworks, and/or force splitting into frequency classes — have been quite different. Each path has encountered different problems along the way which only increased our understanding of the numerical, computational, and accuracy issues involved. This contribution reported on our experiences in this quest. LN has its roots in LIN, which... 

The element may be obtained by separating neodymium salts from other rare earths by ion-exchange or solvent extraction techniques, and by reducing anhydrous halides such as NdFs with calcium metal. Other separation techniques are possible. 

Bentone-34 has commonly been used in packed columns (138—139). The retention indices of many benzene homologues on squalane have been determined (140). Gas chromatography of C —aromatic compounds using a Ucon B550X-coated capillary column is discussed in Reference 141. A variety of other separation media have also been used, including phthaUc acids (142), Hquid crystals (143), and Werner complexes (144). Gel permeation chromatography of alkylbenzenes and the separation of the Cg aromatics treated with zeofltes ate described in References 145—148. 

Other Separations. Other TSA appHcations range from CO2 removal to hydrocarbon separations, and include removal of air poUutants and odors, and purification of streams containing HCl and boron compounds. Because of their high selectivity for CO2 and their abiHty to dry concurrently,... 

Process Concepts. Hybrid systems involving gas-phase adsorption coupled with catalytic processes and with other separations processes (especially distillation and membrane systems) will be developed to take advantage of the unique features of each. The roles of adsorption systems will be to efficiently achieve very high degrees of purification to lower fouUng contaminant concentrations to very low levels in front of membrane and other separations processes or to provide unique separations of azeotropes, close-boiling isomers, and temperature-sensitive or reactive compounds. 

A significant advantage of adsorbents over other separative agents Hes in the fact that favorable equiHbrium-phase relations can be developed for particular separations adsorbents can be produced that are much more selective in their affinity for various substances than are any known solvents. This selectivity is particularly tme of the synthetic crystalline zeoHtes containing exchangeable cations. These zeoHtes became available in the early 1960s under the name of molecular sieves (qv) (9). 

Alternative approaches are to be found in the hterature. Derivations of the above equations are given in numerous texts (2,10—12), which also describe graphical or analytical solutions to the problem. Many of these have direct analogues in other separation processes such as distillation (qv) and hquid—hquid extraction, and use plots such as the McCabe-Thiele diagram or Ponchon-Savarit diagram. 

A typical automobile battery weighs 16.4 kg and consists of 3.5 kg metallic lead, 2.6 kg lead oxides, 4.0 kg lead sulfate, 1.3 kg polypropylene, 1.1 kg PVC, mbber and other separators, and 3.9 kg electrolyte. Including acid and water, the lead-beating parts represent 61 wt %, ie, 21 wt % of lead alloy (2% Sb) and 40 wt % lead oxides and sulfate. Nonlead-beating parts constitute the remaining 39% the case (hard mbber or polypropylene) and separators (PVC) at 15 wt % and the electrolyte at 24 wt %. 

Static bath mode. Feed enters at one end of the dmm and the floats exit from the other end. The sink product is removed continuously from the rotating dmm through the use of lifters attached to the dmm which empty into a launder as they move to the top. A modification of the simple dmm separator is the two-compartment dmm separator which allows a two-stage separation. In the cone-type separator (up to 6.1 m in dia and 450 t/h) feed is introduced at the top. The medium in the cone is kept in suspension by gentle agitation. The sink product is removed from the bottom of the cone either directly or by airlift in the center of the cone. The maximum particle size that can be separated is limited to 10 cm. Other separators include the Drewboy bath and the Norwaltbath (2). 

An improved solvent extraction process, PUREX, utilizes an organic mixture of tributyl phosphate solvent dissolved in a hydrocarbon diluent, typically dodecane. This was used at Savannah River, Georgia, ca 1955 and Hanford, Washington, ca 1956. Waste volumes were reduced by using recoverable nitric acid as the salting agent. A hybrid REDOX/PUREX process was developed in Idaho Falls, Idaho, ca 1956 to reprocess high bum-up, fuUy enriched (97% u) uranium fuel from naval reactors. Other separations processes have been developed. The desirable features are compared in Table 1. 

Other Separation Techniques. Under some circumstances, distillation is not the best method of separation. Among these instances are the following when relative volatiHty is <1.05 when <1% of a stream is removed, as in gas drying (adsorption or absorption) or C2H2 removal (reaction or absorption) when thermodynamic efficiency of distillation is <5% and when a high boiling point pushes thermal stabiHty limits. A variety of other... 

Products. In all of the instances in which crystallization is used to carry out a specific function, product requirements are a central component in determining the ultimate success of the process. These requirements grow out of how the product is to be used and the processing steps between crystallization and recovery of the final product. Key determinants of product quaHty are the size distribution (including mean and spread), the morphology (including habit or shape and form), and purity. Of these, only the last is important with other separation processes. 

Of these five methods all but pressure-swing distillation can also be used to separate low volatiUty mixtures and all but reactive distillation are discussed herein. It is also possible to combine distillation and other separation techniques such as Hquid—Hquid extraction (see Extraction, liquid-liquid), adsorption (qv), melt crystallization (qv), or pervaporation to complete the separation of azeotropic mixtures. 

Optimization. Optimi2ation of the design variables is an important yet often neglected step in the design of extractive distillation sequences. The cost of the solvent recovery (qv) step affects the optimi2ation and thus must also be included. Optimi2ation not only yields the most efficient extractive distillation design, it is also a prerequisite for vaUd comparisons with other separation sequences and methods. 

The heating effect is the limiting factor for all electrophoretic separations. When heat is dissipated rapidly, as in capillary electrophoresis, rapid, high resolution separations are possible. For electrophoretic separations the higher the separating driving force, ie, the electric field strength, the better the resolution. This means that if a way to separate faster can be found, it should also be a more effective separation. This is the opposite of most other separation techniques. 

Pneumatic-Conveyor Dryers A pneumatic-conveyor dryer consists of a long tube or duct carrying a gas at high velocity, a fan to propel the gas, a suitable feeder for addition and dispersion of particulate solids in the gas stream, and a cyclone collector or other separation equipment for final recoveiy of sohds from the gas. 

Since residue cur ves do not by definition cross separatrices, the distillate and bottoms compositions must be in the same distillation region with the mass balance line intersecting a residue cur ve in two places. Mass balance lines for mixing and for other separations not involving vapor-hquid equihbria, such as extraction and decantation, are of course not hmited by distiUation boundaries. 

The factors which may make CCD a preferred choice over other separation systems include the following rapidly settling solids, assisted by flocculation relatively high ratio of solids concentration between underflow and feed moderately high wash ratios allowable (2 to 4 times the volume of hquor in the thickened underflows) large quantity of sohds to be processed and the presence of fine-size sohds that are difficult to concentrate by other means. A technical feasibihty and economic study is desirable in order to make the optimum choice. 

Column crystalhzers of the end-fed type can be used for purification of many eutectic-type systems and for aqueous as well as organic systems (McKay loc. cit.). Column ciystaUizers have been used for xylene isomer separation, but recently other separation technologies including more efficient melt ciystaUization equipment have tended to supplant the Phillips style ciystaUizer. 

Modes of Operation There is a close analogy between sedimentation of particles or macromolecules in a gravitational field and their elec trophoretic movement in an electric field. Both types of separation have proved valuable not only for analysis of colloids but also for preparative work, at least in the laboratoiy. Electrophoresis is applicable also for separating mixtures of simple cations or anions in certain cases in which other separating methods are ineffectual. 

Uraizee and Narsimhan [Sep. Sci. Technol., 30(6), 847 (1995)] have provided a model for the continuous separation of proteins from dilute solutions. Although their work is focused on protein separation, the model should find general application to other separations. 

Advantages to Membrane Separation This subsertion covers the commercially important membrane applications. AU except electrodialysis are pressure driven. All except pervaporation involve no phase change. All tend to be inherently low-energy consumers in the-oiy if not in practice. They operate by a different mechanism than do other separation methods, so they have a unique profile of strengths and weaknesses. In some cases they provide unusual sharpness of separation, but in most cases they perform a separation at lower cost, provide more valuable products, and do so with fewer undesirable side effects than older separations methods. The membrane interposes a new phase between feed and product. It controls the transfer of mass between feed and product. It is a kinetic, not an equihbrium process. In a separation, a membrane will be selective because it passes some components much more rapidly than others. Many membranes are veiy selective. Membrane separations are often simpler than the alternatives. 

Separation Factor The separation factor, a, is defined consistent with other separation methods. It is important to recall that in membranes, a is the result of differing rates, and that it has no eqm-librium implications. The convention in membrane separations is to define the separation so that a > I. 

Calculate all the other separator dimensions from the relationships given in Fig. 26-18. 

In developing a separation strategy, the size distribution of the components found in the contaminated medium can be used as a starting point. As an initial step, debris (such as rocks, etc.) can be separated from the remainder of the waste. After the debris is removed, other separation techniques can be employed to concentrate the waste further or physically manipulate the waste into a form suitable for treatment. 

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