COUNTERCURRENT DSORPTIVE SEPARATION USING IMPELLER FLUIDIZERS

HELIPUMP HAS DISCOVERED A NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR CONTACTING LIQUID AND FINE PARTICLE SLURRY COUNTERCURRENTLY. HIGH MASSTRANSFER AND SIMPLE EQUIPMENT MAKE THE TECHNOLOGY ATTRACTIVEFOR CONTINUOUS ADSORPTIVE SEPARATION OF LIQUIDS. PRESENT TECHNOLOGY SIMULATES COUNTERCURRENT PLUG FLOW OF SOLID AGAINST LIQUID BY CYCLICLY MOVING FEEDS AND OUTLETS ALONG A STATIONARY PACKED BED. THIS METHOD IS LIMITED BY SLOW, COMPLICATED EQUIPMENT AND BY MASS TRANSFER (>100 MICRON DIAMETER PARTICLES MUST BE USED TO AVOID EXCESSIVE PRESSURE DROP IN THE PACKED BED). THE PROPOSED PROCESS WILL USE A COUNTERCURRENT CASCADE OF NEWLY DEVELOPED PARTICLE FLUIDIZERS TO CONTACT LIQUID WITH A DENSE SLURRY OF FINE ADSORBENT PARTICLES. EQUIPMENT WILL BE SIMPLE AND INEXPENSIVE, EVEN WHEN A LARGE NUMBER OF STAGES ARE USED. SMALLER PARTICLE SIZE (<20 MICRONS) WILL ALLOW AT 25 TO 100 TIMES FASTER MASS TRANSFER. SUCH A PROCESS WILL OFFER AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE LOWER CAPITAL AND OPERATING COSTS DUE TO SIMPLICITY AND MINIATURIZATION. RESEARCH IS PROPOSED TO DETERMINE THE FEASIBILITY, LIMITATIONS, AND IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NEW PROCESS. EXPERIMENT WILL SHOW THE ABILITY OF THE FLUIDIZER TO CONCENTRATE ADSORBENT PARTICLE SLURRY AND WILL DETERMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE LIQUID-ADSORBENT CONTACTING. A COMPUTER MODEL WHICH USES THE EXPERIMENTAL DATA WILL BE DEVELOPED TO STUDY THE PROCESS AS A WHOLE.