ISBN 9783843957595

978-3-8439-5759-5, Reihe Apparatedesign

Piriyanth Sakthithasan
Lab-Scale Liquid-Liquid Extraction with Improved Separation Efficiency in Stirred-Pulsed Operation Mode

224 Seiten, Dissertation Technische Universität Dortmund (2026), Softcover, A5

Zusammenfassung / Abstract

The increasing demand for fine chemicals in the process industry requires separation processes with high process intensification that also combine efficiency with compact design. Liquid-liquid extraction, especially in stirred-pulsed operation mode, offers a promising approach to meeting the above requirements due to its energy efficiency and flexibility.

This work investigates process intensification through asymmetric pulsation patterns and elevated process conditions in a DN15 laboratory-scale extraction measurement cell. Experimental studies and CFD simulations were conducted to analyze hydrodynamics, mass transfer, and residence time distribution. The results show that asymmetric pulsations significantly increase the load limit and hold-up while reducing axial dispersion. Elevated temperatures (20–70 °C) and moderate pressure (0.3 MPa) further improve the operating window by reducing interfacial tension and viscosity and increasing density differences. The superposition of thermal effects with asymmetric pulsation widens the operating window and enables higher throughput and improved extraction performance. CFD models and dimensionless correlations can be used to predict hold-up trends and axial dispersion with good agreement, supporting their use for design and scaling. These results confirm that the combination of hydrodynamic and thermal intensification strategies can further optimize compact extraction systems while maintaining operational stability.