In
many of the oil & fat processing industry,
glycerol is present in the aqueous solutions (typically
5-15% concentration of Glycerol in water). Because
of its low vapor pressure & high water solubility,
separation of glycerol from these dilute solutions
is difficult. Conventionally water from these
solutions is evaporated in a multiple stage evaporator.
The crude glycerol, thus obtained is distilled
under reduced pressure to get the pure glycerol.
Because of inclusion of water evaporation stage
the cost of separation of glycerol is very high.
Other than water evaporation, ion exchange &
membrane separations have been explored for the
separation of glycerol. The technologies evaluated
so far pose serious issues regarding operating
or fixed cost.
Geist has developed a novel extraction technology
for separation of glycerol from the dilute solutions.
In this novel technology, the aqueous stream
containing glycerol is pretreated. The need
for pretreatment may vary from case to case.
This pretreated aqueous stream is then contacted
with the novel extractants in a multiple stage
contactor. The glycerol gets completely extracted
in the organic phase. The aqueous layer depleted
in the glycerol concentration can then be diverted
to downstream processing. The extractant phase
is then further processed to separate glycerol.
In this step mild operating conditions are utilized
to separate extractant & glycerol. The output
of this treatment stage is extractant phase,
which is free of glycerol & concentrated
glycerol (more than 90% glycerol in water).
This concentrated glycerol can be distilled
to get the glycerol of required quality. Thus
glycerol can be separated from the dilute solutions
& converted into concentrated glycerol (more
than 90% glycerol in water).
Application:
-
Complete recovery of glycerol
from the aqueous stream.
-
Ease of separation of
glycerol from the extract phase.
-
Amenable to presence organic
& inorganic impurities.
-
Highly Energy efficient
process
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