How can high-purity products be obtained via side-line extraction?
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The feed consists of glycerin, water, and salt; the desired purity of the product glycerin is 99.8%. I chose the ENRTL equation from thermodynamic considerations. It is difficult to separate salt from glycerin – when product is taken off via a side stream, it always contains 3% salt. Water can be easily distilled off at the top of the tower, but glycerin and salt are hard to separate. Are there any methods to increase the purity of the product obtained through side-line extraction? Thank you all first :)
Try increasing the number of trays and raising the reflux ratio
To extract pure glycerin via a side stream, it is necessary to install partitions inside the tower to obtain the product on the other side of the feed. The boiling points of glycerin and water differ too much; it’s difficult to use a single tower to handle this, as there is a large temperature difference between the top and bottom of such a tower. It’s also hard to choose an appropriate heating medium, so it’s better to use two separate towers.