Optimal Design Of Deterpenation Processes With Alternative Near Critical Solvents

M. SOLEDAD DIAZ; SUSANA ESPINOSA; ESTEBAN A. BRIGNOLE

Buenos Aires

Congreso; XXII Interamerican Congress of Chemical Engineering; 2006

Asociacion Argentina de Ingenieros Quimicos - Confed. Interamericana de Ing. Quimica

In this work, process feasibility for the deterpenation of orange peel oil with alternative supercritical solvents has been explored through the integration of a group contribution equation of state to rigorous process models and nonlinear programming techniques. Alternative supercritical solvents are carbon dioxide and ethane. Phase equilibrium predictions with GC-EOS have been compared to available experimental data, providing a robust thermodynamic support to simulation and optimization models. Solubility predictions have been compared at the same reduced pressure, as solvents must be near their critical point. A feed mixture composed of 98 wt % limonene and 2 wt % linalool, that closely represents orange peel oil has been considered. The deterpenation process mathematical model has been formulated as a nonlinear programming (NLP) case and it has been solved with a Successive Quadratic Algorithm (Biegler and Cuthrell, 1985). Numerical results for the different solvents have confirmed the convenience of using carbon dioxide over ethane as supercritical solvent to obtain a low concentrated aroma from the oxygenated dilute mixture representing orange peel oil. It has also been shown that ethane is a good alternative to carbon dioxide, rendering lower operating pressures.