Fractional extraction with hollow fibers with hydrogel-filled walls

✍ Scribed by Hongbing Ding; E. L. Cussler

• Book ID: 102696177
• Publisher: American Institute of Chemical Engineers
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 744 KB
• Volume: 37
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0001-1541
• DOI: 10.1002/aic.690370608

✦ Synopsis

Extractions using hollow fibers can be faster and more efficient than those in conventional equipment. These advantages, due to the large area per volume possible with fibers, can be compromised by accidental convection through the fibers' pores. When these pores are filled with gels of crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol, convection through the pores is stopped but the overall mass transfer is unaltered. The separations across these gel-filled fiber walls provide excellent yield and purity, especially in the case of fractional extraction.

In trod uc t ion

Modules made with microporous hollow fibers are an efficient method of effecting gas adsorption and liquid extraction. They have mass transfer coefficients similar to those in conventional equipment, but they provide larger surface area per volume. As a result, they usually can achieve the same performance as conventional equipment in a smaller volume.

The advantages of hollow fiber modules are great especially in liquid-liquid extraction (