Solid-liquid relative continuous countercurrent extraction

Sedimentation is also used for other purposes. For example, relative motion of particles and liquid increases the mass-transfer coefficient. This motion is particulady useful in solvent extraction in immiscible liquid—liquid systems (see Extraction, liquid-liquid). An important commercial use of sedimentation is in continuous countercurrent washing, where a series of continuous thickeners is used in a countercurrent mode in conjunction with reslurrying to remove mother liquor or to wash soluble substances from the solids. Most applications of sedimentation are, however, in straight solid—liquid separation. 

As already pointed out, the rate of extraction will, in general, be a function of the relative velocity between the liquid and the solid. In some plants the solid is stationary and the liquid flows through the bed of particles, whilst in some continuous plants the solid and liquid move countercurrently. 

Extraction. Traditionally tea leaf is extracted with hot water either in columns or ketdes (88,89), although continuous liquid solid-type extractors have also been employed. To maintain a relatively low water-to-leaf ratio and achieve full extraction (35—45%), a countercurrent system is commonly used. The volatile aroma components are vacuum-stripped from the extract (90) or steam-distilled from the leaf before extraction (91). The diluted aroma (volatile constituents) is typically concentrated by distillation and retained for flavoring products. Technology has been developed to employ enzymatic treatments prior to extraction to increase the yield of solids (92) and induce cold water solubility (93,94). 

Analysis of complex mixtures often requires separation and isolation of components, or classes of components. Examples in noninstrumental analysis include extraction, precipitation, and distillation. These procedures partition components between two phases based on differences in the components physical properties. In liquid-liquid extraction components are distributed between two immiscible liquids based on their similarity in polarity to the two liquids (i.e., like dissolves like ). In precipitation, the separation between solid and liquid phases depends on relative solubility in the liquid phase. In distillation the partition between the mixture liquid phase and its vapor (prior to recondensation of the separated vapor) is primarily governed by the relative vapor pressures of the components at different temperatures (i.e., differences in boiling points). When the relevant physical properties of the two components are very similar, their distribution between the phases at equilibrium will result in shght enrichment of each in one of the phases, rather than complete separation. To attain nearly complete separation the partition process must be repeated multiple times, and the partially separated fractions recombined and repartitioned multiple times in a carefully organized fashion. This is achieved in the laborious batch processes of countercurrent liquid—liquid extraction, fractional crystallization, and fractional distillation. The latter appears to operate continuously, as the vapors from a single equilibration chamber are drawn off and recondensed, but the equilibration in each of the chambers or plates of a fractional distillation tower represents a discrete equihbration at a characteristic temperature. 

---