Distillation
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| Technology details | |
| Name: | Distillation |
| Category: | Pre-processing (Separation technologies), Post-processing (Separation technologies) |
| Feedstock: | all materials |
| Product: | separated products |
Distillation is the process of separating components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation. Distillation may result in essentially complete separation (nearly pure components), or it may be a partial separation that increases the concentration of selected components in the mixture. It is a physical separation process, not a chemical reaction. The application of distillation covers various options, for example purification of alcohol, desalination, crude oil refining, or making liquefied gases from air.
Feedstock
Origin and composition
Since distillation is limited for the use of liquid mixtures, the feedstock needs to be in liquid form. Examples in the field of biowaste here are fermented biowaste resources, as bioethanol, or bio oils. [1][2]
Pre-treatment
For a distillation, no specific pre-treatment is needed since it is used to separate different fraction within a process chain. To gain a liquid product from bio waste resources, fermentation or hydrothermal processing (hydrothermal liquefaction) are possible pre-treatment technologies.
Sometimes there are combination options with other technologies, such as extraction or esterification, for higher efficiencies.[1][2]
Process and technologies
Distillation exploits differences in relative volatilities of the feed mixture components. In a distillation column, a feed stream enters the middle of the column and two streams leave, one at the top and one at the bottom. Components with lower boiling points are concentrated in the stream leaving the top, while components with higher boiling points are concentrated in the stream leaving the bottom.
Separation is achieved by controlling the column temperature and pressure profiles to take advantage of differences in the relative volatility of the mixture components and therefore tendency to change phase. The lighter, lower boiling point components evaporate to the top of the column and the heavier, higher boiling point components condense to the bottom of the column.
This application is often referred to as rectification, which is a successive distillation. A simple distillation, as it can be seen below, is not typically used for industrial applications. In simple distillation, the vapor is immediately channeled into a condenser. As a result, simple distillation is effective only when the liquid boiling points differ greatly or when separating liquids from non-volatile solids or oils. For these cases, the vapor pressures of the components are usually different enough that the distillate may be sufficiently pure for its intended purpose.
The main advantages of rectification are that the system can be operated continuously through the refluxes and that the separation effect is many times greater than that of a simple distillation. The reason for this lies in the several countercurrent contacts of the vapor with the liquid. Therefore, rectification is preferred to sequential single distillations.
A plant that performs distillation is called a distillery. The apparatus used to perform distillation is called a still.
Products
With distillation two products are obtained. The product leaving the column at the top is referred to as distillate, while the product leaving at the bottom is referred to as bottom product or shortly bottoms.
Post-treatment
The post-treatment of the products depend on the next steps within the production chain. With distillation, it is not possible to completely purify a mixture of components, as this would require each component in the mixture to have a zero partial pressure. If ultra-pure products are the goal, then further chemical separation must be applied.
Technology providers
| Company name | Country | Technology category | Technology name | TRL | Capacity [kg/h] | Processable volume [L] | Feedstock: Food waste | Feedstock: Garden & park waste |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company 1 | [Country HQ location] | [Technology category (if different sub-categories are defined this has to be specified here, the available categories can be found on each technology page under the chapter Process and technologies)] | [Technology name (the "branded name" or the usual naming from company side)] | [4-9] | [numeric value] | ● | ● | |
| Company 2 | [Country HQ location] | [(if different sub-categories are defined this has to be specified here, the available categories can be found on each technology page under the chapter Process and technologies)] | [Technology name (the "branded name" or the usual naming from company side)] | [4-9] | [numeric value] | ● | ● |
ABC
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| Technology name: | Technology category: | Pre-processing (Separation technologies), Post-processing (Separation technologies) | |
| TRL: | Capacity: | kg·h-1 | |
| Processable volume: | [L] | Other: | |
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| Feedstock: | Product: | ||
describe the company, here is an example
ABC was founded in 20... 12 by KNN and Syncom, in collaboration with the university of Groningen, Netherlands. The company is a technology provider developing chemical recycling technologies for different feedstocks including non-food bio- and plastics waste. In 2018 a pilot plant with the capability to process biomass and plastic waste was set up at the Zernike Advanced Processing (ZAP) Facility. The company is now focused on setting up their first commercial plant with a capacity of 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes. The investing phase B was recently completed, with the last investment phase in 2019 the financial requirements are fulfilled to complete the commercialisation activities to build the plant which is expected for 2023.
describe their technology, here is an example
The technology is based on an Integrated Cascading Catalytic Pyrolysis (ICCP) process, being able to produce aromatics including benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) as well as light olefins from low grade biomass and plastics waste. This technology utilises catalytic cracking in a two-step process at temperatures between 450- 850 °C. In the first step the feedstock material is vaporised via thermal cracking. The pyrolysis vapours are then directly passed into a second reactor in which they are converted into aromatics by utilising a zeolite catalyst which can be continuously regenerated. Finally, the products are separated from the gas via condensation. An ex situ approach of catalytic conversion has several advantages such as the protection of the catalyst from deactivation/degradation expanding its lifetime, a greater variety of feedstock, and a precise adjustment of process conditions (e.g. temperature, catalyst design, and Weight Hourly Space Velocity (WHSV) in each step for improved yields. In current pilot plant with 10 kg h-1 feed capacity for either waste plastics or biomass, final design details are established, which will be include in the running engineering activities for the commercial plant.
Open access pilot and demo facility providers
Patents
Currently no patents have been identified.
References
- Distillation in Wikipedia
- Distilliation Fundamentals at Neutrium
- Distillation University of Utah
- ↑ a b Le Cao Nhien, Nguyen Van Duc Long, Sangyong Kim, Moonyong Lee, 2017-12: Techno-economic assessment of hybrid extraction and distillation processes for furfural production from lignocellulosic biomass. Biotechnology for Biofuels, Vol. 10, (1), 81. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-017-0767-3
- ↑ a b Wan-Ting Chen, Yuanhui Zhang, Timothy H. Lee, Zhenwei Wu, Buchun Si, Chia-Fon F. Lee, 2018-11: Renewable diesel blendstocks produced by hydrothermal liquefaction of wet biowaste. Nature Sustainability, Vol. 1, (11), 702–710. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0172-3