Annular Centrifugal Contactors for Solvent Extraction

Abstract

Annular c e n t r i f u g a l c o n t a c t o r s s u i t a b l e f o r l a b o r a t o r y use i n s o l v e n t e x t r a c t i o n work have been designed and t e s t e d f o r b o t h h y d r a u l i c performance and m a s s -t r a n s f e r e f f i c i e n c y . The 2-cm c o n t a c t o r s have nominal flow r a t e s of 80 mL/min and m a s s -t r a n s f e r e f f i c i e n c i e s of a t l e a s t 85% a s measured by t h e e x t r a c t i o n of uranium. These c o n t a c t o r s work w e l l f o r organicto-aqueous (O/A) flow r a t i o s g r e a t e r than 0.8. M u l t i s t a g e u n i t s a l l o w proposed flow s h e e t s t o be t e s t e d on a c o n t i n u o u s b a s i s i n t h e l a b o r a t o r y .Scale-up t o l a r g e r p l a n t -s i z e u n i t s i s s t r a i g h tforward.

Centrifugal Contactors: Separation of an Aqueous and an Organic Stream in the Rotor Zone (LA‐UR‐05‐7800)

“…The first centrifugal contactors were devised at the Savannah River Laboratory (SRL) and, subsequently modified at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to the form known as the annular centrifugal contactor. A reasonably complete description of the technology has been provided in papers by ANL scientists (1)(2)(3)(4). The contactors consist of a vertical centrifuge providing for both the mixing and for the separating of liquids in a single unit.…”

A Combined Reaction/Product Recovery Process for the Continuous Production of Biodiesel

“…Centrifugal contactors were initially developed as solvent extraction devices for use in actinide recovery from spent nuclear reactor fuel as an evolution of mixer-settlers [7]. The distinctive feature of the centrifugal contactor apparatus is the use of rotor within a stationary cylinder (the housing) to accomplish both the intimate mixing of two immiscible solutions to produce a dispersion and to generate centrifugal force used to separate the dispersion.…”

“…Such methods are well suited for applications in treatment of nuclear waste [5] and nuclear fuel recycling [6]. Contactors for such uses are available commercially and have been tested in processing of actual radioactive feeds [7]. Contactor technology has also been tested in the area of oil recovery, enhancing the separation of produced water from the lighter hydrocarbon phase [8].…”

Ion Recognition Approach to Volume Reduction of Alkaline Tank Waste by Separation and Recycle of Sodium Hydroxide and Sodium Nitrate

“…The expected 33,000 L/day (6 gal/min) throughput needed to process the contents of one tank in a year would normally be accommodated by compact centrifugal contactors; a well-studied design for a 25-cm contactor has a nominal total throughput of 170,000 L/day. 47 Experience with employing solvent extraction in the nuclear industry has also been extensive, productive, mature, and widely accepted. 48,49 Indeed, solvent extraction as a large-scale industrial technique for metal separation probably owes its birth to the needs of the nuclear industry.…”