Hello fellow engineers!
This is my first post is this forum, so I'll introduce myself.
I am Marshall, 25 years old Brazilian engineer working primarily with biodiesel.
My situation:
The company for which I work uses a multi-purpose cylindrical vessel, flat bottom, for vegetable/animal oil hydrolisis/esterification followed by phase separation (ester/glicerol static separation). Schematic drawing attached.
It is a 140 cubic meter vessel (diameter = 4.5 meters; height = 9 meters). Agitation is provided by pump recirculation. Reaction works pretty well. Separation is acceptable. After separation, the phases are pumped out of the vessel from 4" side nozzles, one at a time.
The main problem happens in the emptying step. We cannot allow glycerol (heavy) in the ester (light) phase, thus, we usually lose ester in the glycerol phase. This usually isn't a huge problem in continuous separations, but seems unavoidable in batchs.
My objective is to mitigate the ester loss. We have considered:
- Reducing flow rate in the emptying step;
- Using some sort of liquid collector (internal collector; various smaller nozzles at the same height around the vessel).
Seeking for any advice/bibliography on the subject.
Best Regards.