Thin-film evaporator

If a linear mbber is used as a feedstock for the mass process (85), the mbber becomes insoluble in the mixture of monomers and SAN polymer which is formed in the reactors, and discrete mbber particles are formed. This is referred to as phase inversion since the continuous phase shifts from mbber to SAN. Grafting of some of the SAN onto the mbber particles occurs as in the emulsion process. Typically, the mass-produced mbber particles are larger (0.5 to 5 llm) than those of emulsion-based ABS (0.1 to 1 llm) and contain much larger internal occlusions of SAN polymer. The reaction recipe can include polymerization initiators, chain-transfer agents, and other additives. Diluents are sometimes used to reduce the viscosity of the monomer and polymer mixture to faciUtate processing at high conversion. The product from the reactor system is devolatilized to remove the unreacted monomers and is then pelletized. Equipment used for devolatilization includes single- and twin-screw extmders, and flash and thin film evaporators. Unreacted monomers are recovered for recycle to the reactors to improve the process yield. 

The polymer can easily be recovered by simple vacuum filtration or centrifugation of the polymer slurry. This can be followed by direct conversion of the filter cake to dope by slurrying the filter cake in chilled solvent and then passing the slurry through a heat exchanger to form the spinning solution and a thin-film evaporator to remove residual monomer. 

In order to make a multipurpose plant even more versatile than module IV, equipment for unit operations such as soHd materials handling, high temperature/high pressure reaction, fractional distillation (qv), Hquid—Hquid extraction (see Extraction, liquid-liquid), soHd—Hquid separation, thin-film evaporation (qv), dryiag (qv), size reduction (qv) of soHds, and adsorption (qv) and absorption (qv), maybe iastalled. 

Fig. 2. Flow sheet of lecithin producing unit. Crude soybean oil is heated in the preheater, 1, to 80°C, mixed with 2% water in the proportion control unit, 2, and intensively agitated in 3. The mixture goes to a dweUing container, 4, and is then centrifuged after a residence time of 2—5 min. The degummed oil flows without further drying to the storage tanks. The lecithin sludge is dried in the thin-film evaporator, 6, at 100°C and 6 kPa (60 mbar) for 1—2 min and is discharged after cooling to 50—60°C in the cooler, 8. 9 and 10 are the condenser and vacuum pump, respectively.

Similar to IFP s Dimersol process, the Alphabutol process uses a Ziegler-Natta type soluble catalyst based on a titanium complex, with triethyl aluminum as a co-catalyst. This soluble catalyst system avoids the isomerization of 1-butene to 2-butene and thus eliminates the need for removing the isomers from the 1-butene. The process is composed of four sections reaction, co-catalyst injection, catalyst removal, and distillation. Reaction takes place at 50—55°C and 2.4—2.8 MPa (350—400 psig) for 5—6 h. The catalyst is continuously fed to the reactor ethylene conversion is about 80—85% per pass with a selectivity to 1-butene of 93%. The catalyst is removed by vaporizing Hquid withdrawn from the reactor in two steps classical exchanger and thin-film evaporator. The purity of the butene produced with this technology is 99.90%. IFP has Hcensed this technology in areas where there is no local supply of 1-butene from other sources, such as Saudi Arabia and the Far East. 

Evaporation. Evaporation can be used to separate volatile compounds from nonvolatile components and often is used to remove residual moisture or solvents from soHds or semisoHds. Thin-film evaporators and dryers are examples of evaporation equipment used for this type of appHcation. Some evaporators are also appropriate for aqueous solutions. 

Thin-Film Evaporators. There are two types of thin-film evaporators commonly used in industrial appHcations. The first type introduces feed material into the center of a rotating heated conical receiver. Centrifugal force causes the feed to travel to the outer edge of the conical receiver where it is coUected and drawn off as residue. During the process, the heat causes the volatile components to be driven from the feed. These volatile components are condensed on a chilled surface of the evaporator and coUected as distUlate. 

The second type of thin-film evaporator, termed a wiped-film evaporator, introduces feed material on a heated waU of a cylinder. Rotating wiper blades continuously spread the feed along the inner waU of the cylinder to maintain uniformity of thickness and to ensure contact with the heated surface. The volatile components are driven off and coUected on an internal chilled condenser surface. The condensate or distUlate is removed continuously. At the end of the process, the residual becomes dry and heavy and drops to the bottom of the unit for removal. The wiped-film evaporator is best suited for treatment of viscous or high-solids content feed. 

Economic and process considerations usually dictate that agitated thin-film evaporators be operated in single-effect mode. Veiy high temperature differences can then be used many are heated with Dowtherm or other high-temperature media. This permits achieving reasonable capacities in spite of the relatively low heat-transfer coefficients and the small surface that can be provided in a single tube [to about 20 m" (200 ft")]. The structural need for wall thicknesses of 6 to 13 mm (V4 to V2. in) is a major reason for the relatively low heat-transfer coefficients when evaporating water-like materials. 

Another common device used in the rubber industry is the thin film evaporator. This device is very often used in the manufacture of ultra-low molecular weight elastomers that are used in sealant applications or specialty coatings, and as processing aids in conventional rubber compounding processes. The thin film evaporator described earlier, has found a multitude of other industry applications, including food processing operations. 

Low-inventory distillation equipment, such as the thin film evaporator, are also available and should be considered for hazardous materials. This equipment offers the additional advantage of short residence time and is particularly useful for reactive or unstable materials. 

Do not add a packed column to a thin film evaporator system, because complications arise. 

The hydrolysis is performed as a continuous countercurrent reaction in tall reaction towers (height 15-20 m, diameter 0.7 m). The reaction time amounts to 60-90 min. Reaction products are as well obtained an aqueous glycerin solution (about 15%) as on a mixture of raw fatty acids [50]. The free fatty acids are carefully distilled with the aid of a thin film evaporator (2-10 mbar, 260°C maximum) [51]. Crystallization and transwetting are additional methods for fractionation of fatty acid mixtures. 

The raw product thus obtained is freed from solvent and water by vacuum distillation (7). The separation of the paraffin is performed under vacuum at temperatures above 220°C in a thin film evaporator (8) in the presence of overheated steam. The paraffin-containing solvent and the paraffin are recirculated to the process without further purification. 

The paraffin sulfonate melt from the bottoms of the thin film evaporator is mixed with water, cooled, and bleached with hydrogen peroxide (9). After conditioning (10) and defoaming (11), the paraffin sulfonate (alkanesulfonate) is sold as an approximately 65% paste. The specifications are given in Table 6 [7],... 

Evaporation can be performed directly from reactors or kettles provided that substances are thermally stable. Such evaporation is time consuming because of the low heat-transfer surface area per unit volume. In the case of temperature sensitive materials, the residence time in the evaporator must be short and the temperature should be as low as possible. Consequently, continuous vacuum evaporators with a short residence time should be used to treat such materials. Falling-film (thin-film) evaporators are suitable to perform such operations. A typical falling-film evaporators is shown in Fig. 7.2-14. Centrifugal evaporators are also commonly used. 

Parker, N. Agitated Thin-Film Evaporators-Equipment and Economics, Chemical Engineering, Sept. 13, 1965, p. 179. 

Many types of equipment have been developed to improve the evaporation of solvent in order to provide energy savings. The most widely used techniques for devolatilization are the falling strand devolatilizer (FSD), the thin-film evaporator and the vented extruder [113]. 

Thin-film and surface renewal evaporators are mostly applied to materials with medium to high viscosity, or to high-boiling contaminated mixtures. A typical thin-film evaporator employs a unique rotor with an array of discrete, plowlike blades attached to the rotor core. The blades transport the viscous concentrate or melt through the evaporator while simultaneously forming films to facilitate heat and mass transfer. 

Thin-film dewetting, 7 409 Thin film drainage, 12 13 Thin-film evaporators (TFE), 15 259... 

This type of unit, known also as a thin-film evaporator is shown in Figure 14.24. It consists of a vertical tube, the lower portion of which is surrounded by a jacket which contains the heating medium. The upper part of the tube is not jacketed and this acts as a separator. A rotor, driven by an external motor, has blades which extend nearly to the bottom of the tube, mounted so that there is a clearance of only about 1.3 mm between their tips and the inner surface of the tube. The liquor to be concentrated is picked up as it enters by the... 

MUTZENBURG, A. B. Chem Eng., Albany 72, No. 19 (13 Sept. 1965) 175 - 8. Agitated thin film evaporators. Part I. Thin film technology. 

For each step of a synthesis, a large toolbox of chemistries is available. Most of them have been developed on laboratory scale by academia over the last century and subsequently adapted to industrial scale. For example, evaporating to dryness had to be elaborated to concentrate in a thin-film evaporator and precipitate by addition of isopropanol. The two most comprehensive handbooks describing organic synthetic methods are the Encyclopedia of... 

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