Solvent contactor

Fig. 5. Arrangement of multistage contactors where F = feed flow (A-rich), R = raffinate flow, 5 = solvent flow (B-rich), and E = extract flow, (a)...

The design of countercurrent contactors is considerably simplified when the solvents A and B are not significantly miscible. The mass flows of A and B then remain constant from one stage to the next, and the material balance at any stage can be written... 

Shell process. Universal Oil Pro-ducts sulfolane sulfolane selectivity and capacity insensitive to water content caused by steam-stripping during solvent recov-ery heavy paraffinic countersolvent use 120 rotating-disk contactor, up to 4 m in diameter the high selectivity and capacity of sulfolane leads to low solvent-feed ratios, and thus smaller equip-ment... 

Caprolactam Extraction. A high degree of purification is necessary for fiber-grade caprolactam, the monomer for nylon-6 (see Polyamides). Cmde aqueous caprolactam is purified by solvent extractions using aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene as the solvent (233). Many of the well-known types of column contactors have been used a detailed description of the process is available (234). 

The feed to a liquid-liquid extraction process is the solution that contains the components to be separated. The major liquid component in the feed can be referred to as the feed solvent. Minor components in solution are often referred to as solutes. The extraction solvent, or just plain solvent, is the immiscible liquid added to a process for the purpose of extracting a solute or solutes from the feed. The extraction-solvent phase leaving a liquid-liquid contactor is called the extract. The raffinate is the liquid phase left from the feed after being contacted by the second phase. A wash solvent is a hquid added to a liquid-liquid fractionation process to wash or enrich the purity of a solute in the extract phase. 

Liquid-liquid fractionation, or fractional extraction (Fig. 15-6), is a sophisticated scheme for nearly complete separation of one solute from a second solute by liquid-liquid extraclion. Two immiscible liquids travel countercurrently through a contaclor, with the solutes being fed near the center of the contactor. The ratio of immiscible-liquid flow rates is operated so that one of the phases preferentially moves the first solute to one end of the contactor and the other phase moves the second solute to the opposite end of the contactor. Another way to describe the operation is that a primaiy solvent S preferentially extracts, or strips, the first solute from the feed F and a wash solvent... 

The main objective for calculating the number of theoretical stages (or mass-transfer units) in the design of a hquid-liquid extraction process is to evaluate the compromise between the size of the equipment, or number of contactors required, and the ratio of extraction solvent to feed flow rates required to achieve the desired transfer of mass from one phase to the other. In any mass-transfer process there can be an infinite number of combinations of flow rates, number of stages, and degrees of solute transfer. The optimum is governed by economic considerations. 

Solvent Extraction - Solvent extraction uses solvents to dissolve and remove aromatics from lube oil feed stocks, improving viscosity, oxidation resistance, color, and gum formation. A number of different solvents are used, with the two most common being furfural and phenol. Typically, feed lube stocks are contacted with the solvent in a packed tower or rotating disc contactor. Each solvent has a different solvent-to-oil ratio and recycle ratio within the tower. 

An amine absorber (Figure 1-15) removes the bulk of H2S from the sour gas. The sour gas leaving the sponge oil absorber usually flows into a separator that removes and liquefies hydrocarbon from vapors. The gas from the separator flows to the bottom of the HjS contactor where it contacts a countercurrent flow of the cooled lean amine from the regenerator. The treated fuel gas leaves the top of the HjS absorber, goes to a settler drum for the removal of entrained solvent, and then flows to the fuel system. 

In a gas-liquid contactor, a pure gas is absorbed in a solvent and the Penetration Theory provides a reasonable model by which to describe the transfer mechanism. As fresh solvent is exposed to the gas, the transfer rate is initially limited by the rate at which the gas molecules can reach the surface. If at 293 K and a pressure of 1 bar the maximum possible rate of transfer of gas is 50 m3/m2s, express this as an equivalent resistance, when the gas solubility is 0.04 kmol/m3. 

A wide variety of extraction column forms are used in solvent extraction applications and many of these, such as rotary-disc contactors (RDC), Oldshue-Rushton columns, and sieve-plate column extractors, have rather distinct compartments and a geometry, which lends itself to an analysis of column performance in terms of a stagewise model. As the compositions of the phases do not come to equilibrium at any stage, however, the behaviour of the column is therefore basically differential in nature. 

The most widely used element-selective electrochemical detector is the Hall electrolytic conductivity detector (HECD) [98,116,206]. This is an improved version of an earlier design by Coulson [207,208]. In both detectors the reaction products are swept from the furnace into a gas-liquid contactor trtiere they are mixed with an appropriate solvent. The liquid phase is separated from insoluble gases in a gas-liquid separator and then passed through a conductivity cell. The Coulson detector employed a... 

Solvent extraction carried out in conventional contactors like mixer-settlers and columns has certain limitations, including (a) controlling optimum dispersion and coalescence, (b) purifying both phases to ensure that stable emulsions are avoided (c) temperature control within a narrow band (d) high entrained solvent losses and related environmental and process economic effects and (e) large equipment dimensions and energy requirements when the density differential or selectivity is low. 

The solvents are mixed in a contactor, to effect the transfer of solute, and then the phases separated. The depleted feed solvent leaving the extractor is called the raffinate, and the solute rich extraction solvent, the extract. The solute is normally recovered from the extraction solvent, by distillation, and the extraction solvent recycled. 

Kumar, A. Haddad, R. Benzal, G. Sastre, A. M. Dispersion-free solvent extraction and stripping of gold cyanide with LIX79 using hollow fiber contactors Optimization and modeling. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2002, 41, 613-623. 

The emulsion is separated in the centrifugal contactor (POD), which produces a stream containing water-soluble impurities and a stream of washed solvent. 

It is a practical fact that most industrial solvent extractions are carried out under nonequilibrium conditions, however close the approach may be for example, centrifugal contactor-separators (Chapter 9) rarely operate at distribution equilibrium. An interesting possibility is to expand this into extractions further from equilibrium, if the kinetics of the desired and nondesired products are different. Such operations offer a real technlogical challenge. 

The second part deals with applications of solvent extraction in industry, and begins with a general chapter (Chapter 7) that involves both equipment, flowsheet development, economic factors, and environmental aspects. Chapter 8 is concerned with fundamental engineering concepts for multistage extraction. Chapter 9 describes contactor design. It is followed by the industrial extraction of organic and biochemical compounds for purification and pharmaceutical uses (Chapter 10), recovery of metals for industrial production (Chapter 11), applications in the nuclear fuel cycle (Chapter 12), and recycling or waste treatment (Chapter 14). Analytical applications are briefly summarized in Chapter 13. The last chapters, Chapters 15 and 16, describe some newer developments in which the principle of solvent extraction has or may come into use, and theoretical developments. 

The loading characteristics of an extractant can be determined as described above. With this information and knowledge of the different types of contactors available, the metal concentration in the feed, the extraction rate of the metal, the approximate concentration of extractant in the solvent can be determined. The optimum concentration can be determined only by operating a continuous circuit. 

The solvent system extractant, diluent, and, if necessary, modifier Equilibrium data extraction and stripping isotherms Kinetic data, as these will govern, to a large extent, the type of contactor required... 

The major emphasis in the development and optimization of contactors has been to increase throughput while maintaining efficiency, and to increase efficiency without reduction in throughput [1,5], Many types of contactors are available for achieving mass transfer, each with its own particular advantage so that there is no single contactor that is best for all solvent extraction processes, either technically or economically. A classification chart of various contactor types is given in Fig. 7.8 [1]. 

The types of equipment used, which range from stirred tanks and mixer-settlers to centrifugal contactors and various types of columns, affect both capital and operating costs [9]. In the decision to build a plant, the choice of the most suitable contactor for the specific situation is most important. In some systems, because of the chemistry and mass transfer rates involved, several alternative designs of contacting equipment are available. In the selection of a contactor, one must consider the capacity and stage requirements solvent type and residence time phase flow ratio physical properties direction of mass transfer phase dispersion and coalescence holdup kinetics equilibrium presence of solids overall performance and maintenance as a function of contactor complexity. This may appear very complicated, but with some experience, the choice is relatively simple. 

In-line mixers manufactured by, for example, Kenics, Lightning, and Sulzer are also applicable for continuous small-scale testing of a solvent extraction process, and 1 inch diameter models are available. This mixer system can be used either horizontally or vertically. However, few data are available for this type of contactor, although they would appear to offer many possibilities, not only for liquid-liquid systems, but also for use in... 

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