What Is Molecular Distillation Equipment Used For

Molecular distillation equipment is an efficient separation and purification technology, which is often used to separate single, high-purity liquid or semi-solid substances from mixtures. Based on the different intermolecular forces, it separates the components in the mixture one by one by controlling the temperature and air pressure.

In distillation equipment, the mixture is first heated above the boiling point and evaporated at low pressure. Because of the different chemical properties and intermolecular interaction between different components, different components will evaporate and form different gas phase regions in the equipment during this process. Then, these gas phases are cooled by a condenser and collected to obtain pure components.

Molecular distillation system usually consists of the following parts

• Heater: used to heat the mixture to reach the evaporation temperature.
• Evaporation chamber: the mixture is evaporated in this equipment, and different components are separated in sequence according to their boiling points.
• Separator: according to the difference of boiling points of different components, the gaseous mixture is separated.
• Condenser: used to cool and solidify the gaseous components evaporated from the evaporation chamber, so as to obtain pure liquid or semi-solid substances.

Common applications 

 

1. Petroleum refining: Molecular distillation equipment is widely used in petroleum refining process to separate crude oil into different petroleum products, such as gasoline, diesel oil, lubricating oil and liquefied petroleum gas.

2. Chemical technology: In the chemical industry, molecular distillation equipment is often used for the purification and separation of raw materials, such as the production of acids, bases, solvents and chemical intermediates.

3. Pharmaceutical industry: Molecular distillation equipment plays a key role in the pharmaceutical industry. It is used to extract the active ingredients of natural plant drugs, as well as purification and separation steps in the process of synthesizing drugs.

4. Food and beverage industry: molecular distillation equipment is used to extract and purify natural spices, pigments and nutrients in food and beverage to improve the taste and quality of products.

5. Solvent recovery: In many industrial production processes, solvents are widely used. Molecular distillation equipment can be used to recover and purify solvents to reduce resource waste and environmental pollution.

6. Energy field: Molecular distillation equipment can also be used in the energy field, such as separation and purification in the process of natural gas liquefaction and the treatment of biomass energy.

7. Environmental protection: molecular distillation equipment can be used to treat organic substances in wastewater and realize wastewater treatment and resource recovery.

 

Small-scale test, scale-up test and pilot production of molecular distillation equipment are experiments and production processes at different stages, which are used to verify and verify the feasibility of molecular distillation process, determine operating parameters, evaluate product quality and gradually promote large-scale production.

 

Small-scale test: Small-scale test is conducted on small-scale equipment in the initial stage of molecular distillation process development. At this stage, researchers usually use small laboratory equipment to test the samples to verify the feasibility of molecular distillation and initially determine the operating parameters. Small tests are usually used to evaluate separation effect, collect basic data and evaluate process economy.

Scale-up experiment: Scale-up experiment is an experimental stage to expand the process from small scale to large scale after the success of small scale experiment. At this stage, researchers will use larger equipment that is closer to actual production for experiments. The purpose of the amplification experiment is to verify the reliability and stability of the process and further determine the operating parameters. Through the scale-up experiment, researchers can better understand the interaction between equipment and process, solve possible problems and optimize the molecular distillation process.

Pilot production: Pilot production is a pilot production stage that further pushes the process to industrial scale after the successful scale-up experiment. At this stage, a medium-sized production device is usually built for pilot production. Pilot production aims to verify and evaluate the feasibility, stability and economy of molecular distillation process, and collect more data on product quality, equipment operation and maintenance. Pilot production can finally verify the process and prepare for large-scale production.

             

The pilot test is a preliminary amplification of the laboratory test and a preliminary attempt of small-scale production. It is the most important link in the process from research and development to production, and many very valuable projects fall on this step. The purpose of pilot test is to provide reliable experimental data for further production, and further modify the process in the process, eliminate the parts that are not suitable for industry, and then develop the process suitable for production. Therefore, a large number of people think that the pilot test is to study and develop new process parameters according to new (production) conditions. This view is a little biased. The purpose of our pilot test is actually to study how to reach or approach the same conditions in the laboratory under new conditions, rather than directly seeking new conditions. The reaction conditions pursued by laboratory, pilot plant and production should be the same, or almost the same, because most of the reaction conditions are still relatively wide, as long as they are within the reaction range, the reaction will basically get similar results. Therefore, the conditions pursued by the three are actually the same, but because of their slightly different environments, the means to achieve the results are slightly different.

 

The small-scale test and pilot test are not only about the amount of materials and the size of the equipment used, but also about completing different tasks in different periods. The small-scale experiment is mainly engaged in exploration and development. The chemical small-scale experiment has solved the reaction and separation process of the set topic and the analysis and identification of the materials involved, produced qualified samples, and the economic and technical indicators such as yield have reached the expected requirements, so it can come to an end and be transferred to the pilot stage. The problem to be solved in the pilot test process is: how to use industrial means and equipment to complete the whole process of the pilot test, and basically reach all the economic and technical indicators of the pilot test, of course, the scale has also expanded. This process also contains innovations and inventions. For example, when a material is quantitatively transferred from one container to another in a small test, the difference between the small test and the pilot test is always easy. However, in the pilot test, it is necessary to solve a series of problems, such as which type, specification and material pump to choose, which metering method to adopt, and the safety, environmental protection and corrosion prevention involved. This is not a simple amplification, and sometimes it is quite nerve-racking to solve such problems, and even it is difficult to achieve satisfactory results. The pilot test is to solve. It includes not only the material balance that we pay great attention to in the small test, but also the heat and momentum balance that we don't pay much attention to in the small test ... It provides reliable process means and data basis for further expanding the scale and realizing the large-scale production with real industrial significance.

 

Summary of pilot scale-up experience

 

The intermediate experimental stage is to further study the changing law of chemical reaction conditions in each step in a certain scale device and solve the problems that cannot be solved or found in the laboratory. Although the nature of chemical reaction will not change with the different experimental production, the optimum reaction process conditions of each step of chemical reaction may change with the different external conditions such as experimental scale and equipment. Therefore, pilot scale-up of molecular distillation equipment is very important. More question about molecular distillation, please contact us via sales@achievechem.com

 

At what stage should the experiment be carried out before the pilot test? At least the following conditions must be met:

1. The small trial yield is stable and the product quality is reliable;

2. The operating conditions have been determined, and the analysis and inspection methods of products, intermediates and raw materials have been determined;

3. The corrosion resistance experiments of some equipment and pipeline materials have been carried out, and the required general equipment is available;

4. The material balance is calculated. The problem of "three wastes" has been dealt with preliminarily;

5. The specifications and unit consumption quantity of raw materials have been proposed;

6. Requirements for safe production have been put forward.