546results about "Steam distillation" patented technology

The present invention in a first aspect provides a method and a system for stripping volatile compounds such as ammonia from e.g. fermentation liquids. Part of the ammonia is stripped from the liquid in a stripper system comprising a shunt through which liquid such as e.g. fermentation medium comprising a biomass can be diverted in the form of a side stream in liquid contact with a main fermentor(s). The stripper system is connected to an evaporator. In the evaporator aqueous liquid is heated at a pressure below atmospheric pressure whereby vapour is developed at a temperature below 100° C. The vapour from the evaporator is directed to the liquid medium comprising ammonia and this results in ammonia being stripped from the liquid and transferred to the vapour phase. The vapour phase is condensed in a first condenser at a low pressure, e.g. a pressure well below 1 bar, and the liquid thus obtained is further treated in a stripper unit at a higher pressure, such as e.g. a pressure at or above 1 bar, to obtain a more concentrated solution of ammonia. When stripped for at least part of the ammonia the liquid initially obtained from the biogas reactor and diverted to the shunt can be returned to the reactor.

An improved process for separation of liquid mixtures involves vapor stripping followed by mechanical compression of the vapor which is then exposed to a permeation membrane for separation of the compressed vapor.

A method and apparatus for treating for disposal oil contaminated substrates, such as drill cuttings from drilling with an oil-based mud, by steam distillation. If necessary, the contaminated substrate 10 can be pretreated with an emulsion breaker 14. The contaminated substrate 10 can be treated with steam 16 in a first mixing still 12. The substrate can be optionally treated with a second steam source 20 in a second mixing still 18. The steam provides heat to vaporize the oil, moisture to treat the substrate and water to the reaction mixture. Recoverable constituents in the vapor can be condensed in a vapor collection system 24. The treated substrate 22 is essentially free of oil and can have a controlled water content. The process exhibits low energy consumption, rapid treatment, compact equipment and a high degree of process control.

Carbon dioxide and other acid gases are removed from gaseous streams using aqueous absorption and stripping processes. By replacing the conventional stripper used to regenerate the aqueous solvent and capture the acid gas with a matrix stripping configuration, less energy is consumed. The matrix stripping configuration uses two or more reboiled strippers at different pressures. The rich feed from the absorption equipment is split among the strippers, and partially regenerated solvent from the highest pressure stripper flows to the middle of sequentially lower pressure strippers in a “matrix” pattern. By selecting certain parameters of the matrix stripping configuration such that the total energy required by the strippers to achieve a desired percentage of acid gas removal from the gaseous stream is minimized, further energy savings can be realized.

The present invention provides certain improvements in methods for processing vegetable oils and apparatus for carrying out such methods. One embodiment provides a method for processing a partially processed oil including glycerides and a volatilizable impurity fraction. The partially processed oil may processed by driving off a first volatiles stream comprising a portion of the glycerides and at least a portion of the volatilizable impurity fraction, leaving a deodorized oil. The first volatiles stream may be introduced into a first condensing chamber and a glyceride-rich, impurity-poor first condensate may be condensed from the first volatiles stream, leaving a glyceride-poor, impurity-rich second volatiles stream. The second volatiles stream may be passed into a second condensing chamber and a glyceride-poor, impurity-rich second condensate may be condensed from the second volatiles stream.

Methods for processing oils and apparatus for carrying out such methods are disclosed herein. One embodiment provides a method for processing a partially processed oil, wherein the oil includes glycerides and a volatilizable impurity fraction. The partially processed oil may be processed by driving off a first volatiles stream having a portion of the glycerides and at least a portion of the volatilizable impurity fraction, leaving a deodorized oil. The first volatiles stream may be introduced into a first condensing chamber and a glyceride-rich, impurity-poor fraction may be condensed from the first volatiles stream, leaving a glyceride-poor, impurity-rich second volatiles stream. The second volatiles stream may be passed into a second condensing chamber and a glyceride-poor, impurity-rich second condensate may be condensed from the second volatiles stream.

A process for producing unsaturated and saturated free fatty acid from trap oils, trap greases, brown greases and grease trap waste as starting material. The process consist in subjecting the starting material to a pretreatment, a first purification step, a fractional step, a second purification step and eventually a hydrogenation step. Methyl esters of unsaturated and saturated free fatty acids, oleic acid and stearin is obtained from this process.

A process for preparing Chinese medicines includes such steps as extracting, solid-liquid separating, heating for sterilizing, and vacuum concentrating. Its complete set of apparatuses is composed of extractor, solid-liquid separator, sterilizer and vacuum concentrating unit. Its advantages are high automation level, productivity and quality of product, and low energy consumption.

The distiller includes an exchanger (6) of tubes (7) which fill with the liquid to be treated, means (14) of heating, means (23) for compressing the steam from evaporation of the liquid, means (24) for feeding the compressed steam around the tubes (7) and means (27, 28) for inducing turbulence into the liquid, preferably by making the compressed steam bubble inside it. The method includes heating the liquid and supplying it to the tubes of the exchanger, compressing the resulting steam and bringing it into contact with the exterior of the tubes. The equipment uses a distiller such as that described. The invention permits treatment of sewage and other liquids by distillation, with minimum energy consumption and in a small space.

One exemplary embodiment can be a system for separating a plurality of naphtha components. The system can include a column, an overhead condenser, and a side condenser. Generally, the column includes a dividing imperforate wall with one surface facing a feed and another surface facing at least one side stream. Typically, the wall extends a significant portion of the column height to divide the portion into at least two substantially vertical, parallel contacting sections. Typically, the overhead condenser receives an overhead stream including a light naphtha from the column. Usually, a side condenser receives a process stream from the column and returns the stream to the column to facilitate separation. A cooling stream may pass through the overhead condenser and then the side condenser.

A desalination system wherein a latent heat of condensation produced by the temperature gradient across a membrane distillation (MD) module is transferred directly to a latent heat of vaporization during desalination of a liquid flow stream. The desalination system comprises the MD module disposed within an object and configured to receive an input feed stream for desalination and produce an output flow stream of a product. The system also comprises a vapor compressor in fluidic communication with the MD module and configured to introduce a hot steam to a high temperature side of the MD module and extract a cool steam, having a temperature less than the hot steam, from a low temperature side of the MD module, thereby creating a temperature gradient across of the MD module. A desalination method is also presented.

The invention discloses a method suitable for controlling the concentration of hydrogen sulfide tail gas in a low-temperature methanol washing process. The method comprises the steps that a sulfur-bearing methanol rich solution dissolved with sulfide and carbon dioxide is subjected to flash evaporation via a medium-pressure flash evaporation tower; fuel gas such as CH4, CO and H2 dissolved in the solution is desorbed and recovered; the methanol solution after the flash evaporation is subjected to pressure reduction and gas stripping to allow a carbon dioxide component to be desorbed from the solution; sulfide is still dissolved in the methanol solution via secondary washing and absorption of the solution to achieve sulfide enrichment; the sulfur-bearing methanol rich solution is heated and then subjected to the flash evaporation; flash evaporation gas returns to a secondary absorption tower to strengthen the sulfide enrichment; the obtained sulfur-bearing methanol solution enters a heat regeneration tower to allow sulfide and residual CO2 to be fully desorbed by the action of steam stripping of methanol steam; and non-condensable gas, namely the acid sulfide tail gas is obtained by further condensation and cooling via a tail gas heat exchanger and a hydrogen sulfide tail gas chiller. The method has the advantages that the method is energy-saving and consumption-reducing, and can adapt to different sulfur recovery technology requirements.

This invention relates to a simple, convenient, portable mini-distillation apparatus for the production of essential oils and hydrosols, said apparatus is useful to distill essential oils and hydrosols such as rose water, ajowain water from fresh and dried plant material like leaves, flowers, roots and rhizomes by water distillation, water and steam distillations and as an optional, steam distillation can also be performed at atmospheric pressure as well as slightly higher and lower than atmospheric pressure, said apparatus can be heated on brick-clay furnace with small agro-waste, LPG cooking gas, electrically heated stove or kerosene / diesel burner etc. and requires minimum attention during handling; since the apparatus is made of stainless steel and glass, the essential oil distilled is of better quality.

Disclosed herein are methods for the recovery of an organic acid, such as a heat stable lactic acid, from a feed stream which contains at least one of an organic acid amide, an organic acid ammonium salt, or an alkylamine-organic acid complex. The feed stream is mixed with at least one azeotroping agent. The azeotroping agent is a hydrocarbon capable of forming at least one azeotrope with the organic acid that is produced by the thermal decomposition of the amide, ammonium salt, or complex in the feed stream. Preferably the azeotrope is a heteroazeotrope. The mixture of the feed stream and the azeotroping agent is heated to produce a vapor stream. The azeotrope is a component of the vapor stream. The vapor stream can be condensed to a liquid stream, and the organic acid is recovered in the liquid stream that is produced. When the azeotrope is a heteroazeotrope, the vapor stream can be condensed into a liquid stream, which can be separated into a first phase and a second phase. The first phase contains the highest concentration of organic acid and the second phase contains azeotroping agent. The organic acid can be further purified and / or concentrated from the separated first phase or from the liquid stream.

A method permits concentration of a water-miscible organic liquid in a mixture of such liquid and water, with recovery of a desired concentrate of the water-miscible organic liquid and water, and a relatively clean water containing only a very low contest of the water-miscible organic liquid which enables disposal of the water in sewage systems, the method thus enhancing the ability to satisfy environmental concerns; the method has particular application to the recovery of a reusable glycol / water mixture from diluted spent aircraft deicer fluid (ADF). The diluted spent ADF is heated in a plate heat exchanger with steam to form a hot frothing mass of liquid and steam which is delivered to a cyclone concentrator, the hot frothing mass in the plate heat exchanger and the cyclone concentrator are maintained at a first pressure and a steam phase including steam bubbles in the hot frothing mass is efficiently separated from and withdrawn from a hot liquid phase which represents a more concentrated glycol / water mixture. The steam withdrawn from the hot frothing mass is compressed to a second pressure higher than the first pressure and cycled back to provide the steam input of the plate heat exchanger. After start-up the operation proceeds, with maintenance of the pressure differential, exploiting the heat of the compressed steam with no requirement for external heating. The method may be applied to other aqueous fluid mixtures.

An improved process for separation of liquid mixtures involves vapor stripping followed by mechanical compression of the vapor which is then exposed to a permeation membrane for separation of the compressed vapor. The apparatus for separating a liquid mixture of two or more solvents comprises components a stripping column, at least one over-head compressor and, thereafter, at least one selectively permeable membrane wherein the membrane separates the components of the vapor based on the different sorption and diffusion characteristics.

The invention relates to a method for removing solvent from polymer solution generated by solution polymerization and an apparatus for removing solvent from such polymer solution. The method for removing solvent from polymer solution in accordance with the invention is a method for removing solvent by putting polymer solution and steam in contact with each other to remove the solvent by steam stripping, including a step of feeding a part of the steam into tube 2 for transferring polymer solution to tank 1 for removing solvent, and a step of feeding the remaining part of the steam into the inside of the tank for removing solvent. Particularly, the amount of the steam to be fed into the tube is preferably at 10 to 90 % by mass, when the whole amount of the steam is defined as 100 % by mass. The polymer contained in the polymer solution includes various polymers such as butadiene rubber, styrene - butadiene rubber, and ethylene - alpha -olefin - non-conjugated diene copolymer rubber. Further, the solvent is preferably n-hexane, n-pentane, cyclohexane, toluene and the like.

The present invention is directed to an enhanced process for separating dissolved and suspended solids from valuable or harmful liquids and more particularly to improving the operational aspects and separation efficiency of treating certain water miscible fluids including those used for oil and gas processing such as glycols, as well as automobile and aircraft fluids, that have become contaminated with dissolved and / or suspended solid matter.

A method and assembly for utilizing open-cell cellular solid material in a component separation unit to separate one or more process streams into component process streams having desired compositions. A method and assembly for using said open-cell cellular solid material to separate process streams into desired component process streams in a component separation unit, wherein the open-cell cellular solid material can include oxides, carbides, nitrides, borides, ceramics, metals, polymers, and chemical vapor deposition materials.

The lower, liquid collecting section of a gas / liquid contacting column has an entrained substance depleting duct extending therearound wherein gas, for example, steam is fed by the duct into the lower section, steam depleted by gravity of liquid droplets, is deflected upwardly by deflectors in the duct through duct openings into a central, upper region of the lower section, while steam with the droplets is deflected downwardly by deflectors in the duct through other duct openings towards a liquid pool in the lower section. Any other liquid and / or solids entrained in the gas (steam) are also deflected downwardly in this manner.

The invention provides a process method for regenerating an ionic liquid and separating recovering absorbents. The method for regenerating an ionic liquid and separating recovering absorbents is implemented by taking steam such as water and ethanol as sweeping gases, adopting different tower types, sweeping and removing absorbent in the ionic liquid at the temperature of 40-200 DEG C and under the pressure of 0.01-2.0MPa, and condensing the swept gases to separate steam from the absorbents. According to the process method, steam is enabled to pass through the ionic liquid through a bubbling or gas-liquid inverse contact method, the mass transfer effect is enhanced by adopting various tower types, and the regeneration of the ionic liquid is realized; the steam is cooled into a liquid by condensing, and the absorbents are kept in a gaseous state, so that the swept absorbents are separated and recovered; and the condensed steam is reheated and applied to sweeping of the ionic liquid. Due to the adoption of the process method provided by the invention, the ionic liquid can be regenerated effectively in a short time, and the reutilization of the ionic liquid and separation and recovery of the absorbents are realized.

The invention belongs to highly effective extraction and separation of the active ingredients in field of modernization of Chinese medicine and is characterized in that on the basis of an extraction process and a device consisting of the combination of 3 novel chemical engineering unit operations of water percolation distillation, extractive distillation, and highly efficient az dist azeotropic distilation, the traditional and advanced techniques and devices for water distillation extraction, extraction by semi-bionic method, extraction by ultrasonic waves, extraction by enzyme process, extraction by microbial fermentation and extraction by microwave are preferably selected to constitute the unit and combined type extraction process and the device thereof; the process and the device of the invention is especially suitable for extracting the majority of single Chinese medicine or compound Chinese medicine with both volatile and non-volatile components; in addition the device operates stably with stable parameters; compared with the traditional multifunctional traditional Chinese medicine extracting tank, the tank of the invention features an extraction rate above 95% and energy conservation by over 50%, contraction of the production period by over 50%, reduction of production cost per unit product by 50% and stable content of active ingredients and product quality.

One exemplary embodiment can be a process for treating a hydroprocessing fraction. The process can include obtaining a bottom stream from a fractionation zone, and passing at least a portion of the bottom stream to a film generating evaporator zone for separating a first stream containing less heavy polynuclear aromatic compounds than a second stream.

A system, method and configuration for recovering turpentine during the manufacturing of wood chips, wood pellets or other substances that may include turpentine. In general, a turpentine recovery system is used to capture turpentine from exhaust of a dryer as wood chips are being dried. Advantageously, application of the various techniques disclosed herein can result in the recovery of turpentine that can then be sold to generate revenue and, may contribute to a reduction in the capital and operation costs for emission controls for the dryer exhaust.

A procedure is provided for the separation of close boiling impurities from products which have slightly higher polarity than the impurities, for example, separation of di-propylene glycol di-tert-butyl ether (DE) from di-propylene glycol mono-tert-butyl ether (DPTB) by distillation, water or steam being used as stripping component with heat provided by a reboiler.

The invention discloses rotary steam distillation equipment and belongs to the technical field of steam distillation equipment. The rotary steam distillation equipment is a vertical cylinder body, wherein the center of the shell is provided with a vertical rotary plunger; the rotary plunger is provided with a plurality of layers of funnel-form conical shells; and funnel-form conical shells connected with the shell are inserted between the funnel-form conical shells. The number of the layers of the funnel-form conical shells is 7 to 35. The rotating speed of a motor is 0 to 10,000 r / min. The included angle between the funnel-form conical shells and the rotary plunger is 30 to 75 degrees. The plurality of funnel-form conical shells are parallel. The funnel-form conical shells connected with the rotary plunger are parallel to the funnel-form conical shells connected with the shell. The rotary steam distillation equipment has the advantages that: the continuous feed of raw materials is realized, so the production efficiency is improved; the efficiency is high; the natural flavor of the materials is retained, so high-quality of fragrance is obtained; the loss of the components of the fragrance is less; and the selection range of the fragrant materials is wide.

The invention relates to a differential pressure type solid continuous distillation process, comprising the steps of: placing solid materials on a tower plate in a distillation tower, introducing vapor to the bottom of the tower plate for heating, collecting vapor by vaporizing materials from an outlet pipe at the upper part of the tower plate, and condensing the collected vapor by a condenser toobtain the product, wherein the heating process comprises a preheating loop, a distilling loop and a residual distilling loop. In the invention, the distillation process has scientific and reasonabledesign, realizes fast and efficient continuous distillation process by arranging different operation conditions in each loop, has the advantages of simple operation, large processing load, high production efficiency, high yield and the like, and can efficiently guarantee the consistency stability of the final product of distillation simultaneously.

The invention discloses a natural d-borneol extraction equipment, which comprises a distillation retort (1) which consists of a retort body (11) and a retort cover (12), as well as a vapor pipe (2), a mixed vapor pipe (3), a condenser (4), a secondary condensing barrel (5) and a raw material basket (7), wherein the vapor pipe (2) enters the distillation retort (1) from the bottom of the distillation retort (1); the mixed vapor pipe (3) is communicated with the distillation retort (1) and the condenser (4); the secondary condensing barrel (5) is provided with a cooling hydraulic cylinder (56) and an air outlet pipe (53); and an oil outlet pipe (55) and a water outlet pipe (54) are communicated by an elbow pipe (43) and the condenser (4) and the barrel body (52) of the secondary condensing barrel (5) are communicated by an elbow pipe (43); and the raw material basket (7) moves in and out from an upper opening of the retort body (11) of the distillation retort (1). The natural d-borneol extraction equipment has the advantages of separating and collecting the solid and liquid of the extract at the same time, along with small vapor consumption, high heat energy utilization rate and high equipment utilization rate.