Development of Stripping Distillation Column and Liquid-Liquid Extraction Units for CHEG Lab Courses

Chemical engineering separation processes include liquid-liquid extraction and distillation. Two units, Edibon liquid-liquid extraction unit and Armfield fractional distillation unit, are available in the chemical engineering laboratory at Prairie View A&M University. The extraction unit was not in operation and required troubleshooting including disassembling a pump twice. The distillation unit was recently purchased and not fully assembled. The purpose of this project was to develop 1 or 2 experiments that will utilize both units for upcoming undergraduate senior lab courses. One important requirement in designing the projects are to choose components that are not volatile or possess toxic/heavy fumes. The goal of the project was to have working units and projects before the fall CHEG Lab II course.

Originally, an extraction design was developed using dodecane (solvent), acetone (solute), and water; however, acetone was a very light ketone with a potent smell. A larger ketone, 3-heptanone, was chosen as a replacement since it had a much higher boiling point. To prove the method, simple titration experiments were performed to prove that dodecane would remove acetone from water. The density and refractive index of the layers was measured to determine solute separation. Simulation of the process was conducted using VMGSim software to determine adequate flowrates for the process. For the distillation unit, a simple separation of ethanol and water was chosen. A tray tower was also chosen over a packed tower. The system operated as a stripping column with liquid feed being input to the top of the column. To achieve this operation, all tubing and clamping were performed including creating a connection to a cooling source for the condenser. Standard curves were created to analyze the top and bottom products for purity.