Liquid-liquid extraction - Equipment description

Solvent extraction is the second most important unit operation in chemical engineering after distillation. However, defining the technology of an extraction process is still a tricky business today, due to the difficulty of predicting the result of bringing into contact phases between which a transfer of matter takes place, with or without a chemical reaction.

The user is faced with a wide range of problems, given the diversity of parameters to be considered, from hydrodynamic properties (complex flows) to the interfacial properties of the liquid-liquid systems involved.

The first step is to select the type of contactor best suited to the problem at hand. The next step is to design and size the chosen contactor.

The aim of these three articles is to provide the reader with various elements enabling him to understand the approach leading to the implementation of a liquid-liquid extraction process:

The leaflet focuses on the description of the main known devices;

The leaflet describes the main sizing models for continuous differential devices;

The leaflet focuses on the selection, calculation and operation of equipment.