Solvent Recovery from Soybean Oil/Hexane Miscella by PDMS Composite Membrane

Traditional solvent recovery in the extraction step of edible oil processing is distillation,which consumes large amounts of energy.If the distillation is replaced by membrane process,the energy consumption can be reduced greatly.In this work,two kinds of membrane,PDMS(polydimethylsiloxane) composite membrane and Zeolite filled PDMS membrane were prepared,in which asymmetric microporous PVDF(polyvinylidenefluoride) membrane prepared with phase inversion method was functioned as the microporous supporting layer in the flat-plate composite membrane.The different function compositions of the PDMS/PVDF composite membranes were characterized by reflection Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) spectroscopy.The surface and section of PDMS/PVDF composite membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscope(SEM).The PDMS NF(nanofiltration) membranes were then applied in the recovery of hexane from soybean oil/hexane miscellas(1:3,mass ratio).The effects of pressure(0.5-1.5 MPa),cross-linking temperature and PDMS layer thickness on membrane performances were investigated.The results indicated that both two kinds of NF membranes were promising for solvent recovery,and zeolite filled in PDMS NF membrane could enhance the separation performance.

Closed-loop cobalt recycling from spent lithium-ion batteries based on a deep eutectic solvent (DES) with easy solvent recovery

Efficient recycling technology for the rapid growth of spent lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)is essential to tackle the resources and environmental crisis.Hydrometallurgical approach has attracted extensive research due to its potential to reduce the consumption of energy and threat to the environment.However,the simultaneous realization of green,efficient and closed-loop recycling is still challenging.Herein,we report a closed-loop and highly efficient approach to recycle lithium cobalt oxide from spent LIBs based on a choline chloride:oxalic acid(ChCl:OA)type deep eutectic solvent(DES).An ultrafast leaching process is observed at 180°C for 10 s with no observable residues.The energy barrier during leaching is calculated to be 113.9 kJ/mol.Noteworthy,the solubility of cobalt ions can be reversibly tuned by simply adding/evaporating deionized water,thus avoiding the addition of precipitant and enabling the easy recovery of the leaching solvent for realizing a closed-loop recycling process.The simultaneous realization of high efficiency,green and closed-loop process is expected to push the DES into practical application for recycling the electrodes of LIBs.

Fabrication of cost effective iron ore slime ceramic membrane for the recovery of organic solvent used in coke production

Improvement of coking properties of sub-bituminous coal （A） and bituminous coal （B） was done using blended organic solvents, namely, n-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone （NMP） and ethylenediamine （EDA）. Various solvent blends were employed for the coal extraction under the total reflux condition. A low-cost ceramic membrane was fabricated using industrial waste iron ore slime of M/s TATA steel R＆D, Jamshedpur （India） to separate out the dissolved coking fraction from the solvent-coal mixture. Membrane separations were carried out in a batch cell, and around 75 % recovered NMP was reused. The fractionated coal properties were determined using proximate and ultimate analyses. In the case of bituminous coal, the ash and sulfur contents were decreased by 99.3 % and 79.2 %, respectively, whereas, the carbon content was increased by 23.9 % in the separated coal fraction. Three different cleaning agents, namely deionized water, sodium dodecyl sulphate and NMP were used to regain the original membrane permeability for the reusing.

Enrichment of copper and recycling of cyanide from copper–cyanide waste by solvent extraction

The enrichment of copper from copper–cyanide wastewater by solvent extraction was investigated using a quaternary ammonium salt as an extractant. The influences of important parameters, e.g., organic-phase components, aqueous pH values, temperature, inorganic anion impurities, CN/Cu molar ratio, and stripping reagents, were examined systematically, and the optimal conditions were determined. The results indicated that copper was effectively concentrated from low-concentration solutions using Aliquat 336 and that the extraction efficiency increased linearly with increasing temperature. The aqueous pH value and concentrations of inorganic anion impurities only weakly affected the extraction process when varied in appropriate ranges. The CN/Cu molar ratio affected the extraction efficiency by changing the distribution of copper–cyanide complexes. The difference in gold leaching efficiency between using raffinate and fresh water was negligible.

Design and Operation of Batch Extractive Distillation with Two Reboilers

This paper proposes a modified operation mode of batch extractive distillation with two reboilers. The seoaration of ethanol and water using as ethylene glycol is well done to validate the feasibility, of this mode. The pilot-plant experimental data under the identical operational conditions between the regular mode and the modified mode are in particular discussed. The studied results prove more practical advantages of tile.modified mode over the regular mode such as easier operation control, more flexibility and higher separation efficiency etc. So it suppues certain guidance for the industrial application of batch extractive distillation process.