Simulation of a supercritical carbon dioxide extraction plant with three extraction vessels
Loading...
Date
2011
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Abstract
Although SuperCritical (SC) Fluid Extraction (SCFE) has been successfully applied commercially the last three decades, there is no systematic procedure or computational tool in the literature to scale-up and optimize it. This work proposes an algorithm to simulate dynamics in a multi-vessel (>= 3) high-pressure SCFE plant where extraction vessels operate in batches, and is thus forced to use simulated-countercurrent flow configuration to improve efficiency. The algorithm is applied to a three-vessel SCFE plant using a shrinking-core model to describe inner mass transfer in the substrate. As example, the extraction of oil from pre-pressed seeds using SC CO(2) at 313 K and 30 MPa is simulated. After three cycles the process reaches a pseudo-steady-state condition that simplifies the estimation of plant productivity. Use of a three-instead of two-vessel SCFE plant increases oil concentration in the stream exiting the plant and decreases CO(2) usage at the expense of increasing extraction time. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Description
Keywords
Coupled partial differential equations, Industrial scale, Mathematical modeling, Packed bed, Simulation, Supercritical fluid extraction, FLUID EXTRACTION, CO2 EXTRACTION, MASS-TRANSFER, OIL, LIPIDS, MODEL