Sorption separation processes

The following examples illustrate some applications of sorption-separation processes to the fields of biotechnology and air pollution control. 

Ordinary diffusion involves molecular mixing caused by the random motion of molecules. It is much more pronounced in gases and Hquids than in soHds. The effects of diffusion in fluids are also greatly affected by convection or turbulence. These phenomena are involved in mass-transfer processes, and therefore in separation processes (see Mass transfer Separation systems synthesis). In chemical engineering, the term diffusional unit operations normally refers to the separation processes in which mass is transferred from one phase to another, often across a fluid interface, and in which diffusion is considered to be the rate-controlling mechanism. Thus, the standard unit operations such as distillation (qv), drying (qv), and the sorption processes, as well as the less conventional separation processes, are usually classified under this heading (see Absorption Adsorption Adsorption, gas separation Adsorption, liquid separation). 

Cooperative effects are of considerable interest for high capacity chromatography of BAS, since for practical purposes high-selectivity bonding is possible only in cooperative processes. This is very important for carrying out the sorption, separation and concentration of BAS. 

Process Description Pervaporation is a separation process in which a liquid mixture contacts a nonporous permselective membrane. One component is transported through the membrane preferentially. It evaporates on the downstream side of the membrane leaving as a vapor. The name is a contraction of permeation and evaporation. Permeation is induced by lowering partial pressure of the permeating component, usually by vacuum or occasionally with a sweep gas. The permeate is then condensed or recovered. Thus, three steps are necessary Sorption of the permeating components into the membrane, diffusive transport across the nonporous membrane, then desorption into the permeate space, with a heat effect. Pervaporation membranes are chosen for high selectivity, and the permeate is often highly purified. 

This section treats batch and fixed-bed operations and reviews process cycles and equipment. As the processes indicate, fixed-bed operation with the sorbent in granule, bead, or pellet form is the predominant way of conducting sorption separations and purifications. Although the fixed-bed mode is highly useful, its analysis is complex. Therefore, fixed beds including chromatographic separations are given primary attention here with respect to both interpretation and prediction. 

The difference between this technique and GC or HPLC is that the separation process occurs on a flat essentially two-dimensional surface. The separated components are not usually eluted from the surface but are examined in situ. Alternatively, they can be removed mechanically for further analysis. In thin-layer chromatography (TLC), the stationary phase is usually a polar solid such as silica gel or alumina which is coated onto a sheet of glass, plastic, or aluminium. Although some moisture is retained by the stationary phase, the separation process is predominantly one of surface adsorption. Thin layers are sometimes made from ion-exchange or gelpermeation materials. In these cases the sorption process would be ion-exchange or exclusion. 

Surfactants are selected based primarily on the degree of solubilization. Other factors to be considered include toxicity, biodegradability, surfactant sorption, and surfactant solubility and compatibility with the separation process. Surfactants have the ability to lower the interfacial tension between water and the contaminant by as little as a factor of three to four orders of magnitude. Combined with a sufficient reduction in capillary forces, this allows pumped groundwater theoretically to move the DNAPL toward the recovery or extraction well. This is accomplished by injecting surfactant solution into the contaminated zone. Impacted groundwater characterized by an increase in the concentration of the contaminant is then recovered and treated. 

This equation relates the temporal concentration of a diffusing chemical to its location in space. In real soil and aquifer materials, the diffusion coefficient can be affected by the temperature and properties of the solid matrix, such as mineral composition (which affects sorption, a process that can be difficult to separate from diffusion), bulk density, and critically, water content. 

Gibbs adsorption equation is an expression of the natural phenomenon that surface forces can give rise to concentration gradients at Interfaces. Such concentration gradient at a membrane-solution Interface constitutes preferential sorption of one of the constituents of the solution at the interface. By letting the preferentially sorbed Interfacial fluid under the Influence of surface forces, flow out under pressure through suitably created pores in an appropriate membrane material, a new and versatile physicochemical separation process unfolds itself. That was how "reverse osmosis" was conceived in 1956. 

For a detailed description of the separation processes that may take place at the sensing microzone, the foundation of which is closely related to non-chromatographic continuous separation techniques based on mass transfer across a gas-liquid (gas diffusion), liquid-liquid (dialysis, ultrafiltration) or liquid-solid interface (sorption), interested readers are referred to specialized monographs e.g. [3]). 

The development of mixture sorption kinetics becomes increasingly Important since a number of purification and separation processes involves sorption at the condition of thermodynamic non-equilibrium. For their optimization, the kinetics of multicomponent sorption are to be modelled and the rate parameters have to be identified. Especially, in microporous sorbents, due to the high density of the sorption phase and, therefore, the mutual Influences of sorbing species, a knowledge of the matrix of diffusion coefficients is needed [6]. The complexity of the phenomena demands combined experimental and theoretical research. Actual directions of the development in this field are as follows ... 

C02 is recoverable by physical adsorptions of active carbons or zeolites, or a chemical sorption by carbonation of calcium oxide (CaO) at the C02 recovery and separation process. CaO is absorbable chemically C02 at temperatures of 500-800°C [Eq. (5)]. CaO can remove C02 from hydrocarbon reaction system at the reaction temperature for C02 production with small sensible heat loss, and also enhance reaction rate and yield of the C02 production reaction (Kato, 2003). 

In this section the methods developed in the previous section will be applied to analyze the dynamic behavior of integrated reaction separation processes. Emphasis is placed on reactive distillation and reactive chromatography. Finally, possible applications to other integrated reaction separation processes including membrane reactors and sorption-enhanced reaction processes will be briefly discussed. More details about reactive distillation processes were provided in Ref. [39]. For chromatographic reactors the reader should refer to Chapter 6 of this book, for sorption-enhanced reaction processes to Chapter 7, and for membrane reactors to Chapter 12. 

The theory presented above also applies to other integrated reaction separation processes which fall into the class of systems illustrated in Fig. 5.1. Typical examples are sorption-enhanced gas phase reactions (as described in Chapter 7) or membrane reactors (as described in Chapter 12). 

Gas, or vapor molecules, after the degasitication process, can go through the pore structure of crystalline and ordered nanoporous materials through a series of channels and/or cavities. Each layer of these channels and cavities is separated by a dense, gas-impermeable division, and within this adsorption space the molecules are subjected to force fields. The interaction with this adsorption field within the adsorption space is the base for the use of these materials in adsorption processes. Sorption operations used for separation processes imply molecular transfer from a gas or a liquid to the adsorbent pore network [2],... 

Zeolites and related aluminosilicates constitute a vital family of microporous materials with immense applications in catalysis, sorption and separation processes [1-3]. The discovery of aluminophosphates is an important landmark in the science of these materials [4], All these materials are, in general, synthesized under hydrothermal conditions by making use of template molecules [2]. The template molecules are usually organic amines and they are involved in the formation of these framework structures in more ways than one. While it is difficult to pinpoint the exact manner in which the amines participate or direct the formation of these inorganic structures, it is generally believed that their size and shape are crucial in determining the pore structure. In recent years, a variety of open-framework structures formed by divalent metal phosphates... 

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