Apparatus for continuous cross-current liquid-liquid extraction with pressurized fluids

N. COTABARREN; P. HEGEL; S. PEREDA

Essen

Congreso; 15th European Meeting on Supercritical Fluids (EMSF 2016); 2016

In this work we modify a high-pressure Soxhlet apparatus to fractionate liquid samples containing low-volatile compounds. The equipment allows making continuous cross-current liquid-liquid extractions using pressurized fluids. The apparatus works with an internal solvent recycle, likewise in a Soxhlet cell. By his way the equipment operates in a standalone manner and important saving of solvent is achieved. Up to our knowledge, this is the first apparatus of its type. As a case study we fractionated mixtures of acylglycerols with fatty esters using liquid carbon dioxide. We also investigate the performance of the apparatus by means of mathematical models describing the mixture phase behavior and mass transfer.