Global CAPE-OPEN (GCO) Project Results To Date: June 2001

Abstract

The use of visualisation techniques, more specifically of a series of equilibrium subspaces has greatly helped in the understanding of the relationships among all variables associated with separation of complex non-ideal systems by distillation. The azeotropic distillation of ethanol/water, with pentane as the entrainer, was studied. Parameterization of the equilibrium surfaces in terms of the bubble point temperature was used to search for maximum or minimum boiling ternary azeotropes. It was observed that the behaviour presented due to changes in design parameters varies considerably when the feed is located on the top of the column (previous work) and when it is located in the middle of the column (this work).The objective of this work is to optimize molecular distillators for producing b-carotenes from palm oil, taking into account design (falling film and centrifugal) and operating conditions (temperature and feed flow rate). Experimental and simulated data are used. The software DISMOL, developed by this research group was used for the calculations. As the distillation is proceeding, the carotene concentration in the liquid phase increases for the falling film molecular distillator. It was observed that the best temperature range is from 150 to 180 C, for feed flow rates that vary from 0.3 to 1.8 kg/h, according to the operating temperatures, since as larger the temperature is, a larger flow is needed. The same procedure was made for the centrifugal molecular distillator. For this case, the best temperature range is from 180 to 230 C, for feed flow rates that vary from 0.2 to 0.6 kg/h, according to the operating temperatures.