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Abstract: Two types of equilibrium and non–equilibrium stage models are generally used to simulate the mass transfer of packed distillation column. Using non–equilibrium model requires the calculation of mass transfer coefficients, thus, usually equilibrium–based methods are preferred to be used for simulations of distillation columns. In this paper, packed column distillation of production of Mono Ethylene Glycol in FARSA SHIMI Company (Assaluyeh –Iran)’s Ethylene Glycol portion has been simulated through using the equilibrium model and solving the related equations. The simulation has been carried out in the MATLAB environment. The column also has been simulated in the Aspen Hysys and Aspen Plus ver.2006.5 environments. Then, the output has been compared with software results, designing and operating data of the underlying columns which demonstrate good consistency with the model. Having the model validated, the effect of some operating parameters has been analyzed through the model. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The organoleptic quality of wine distillates depends on raw materials and the distillation process. Previous work has shown that rectification columns in batch distillation with fixed reflux rate are useful to obtain distillates or distillate fractions with enhanced organoleptic characteristics. This study explores variable reflux rate operating strategies to increase the levels of terpenic compounds in specific distillate fractions to emphasize its floral aroma. Based on chemical and sensory analyses, two distillate heart sub-fractions obtained with the best operating strategy found, were compared with a distillate obtained in a traditional alembic. Results have shown that a drastic reduction of the reflux rate at an early stage of the heart cut produced a distillate heart sub-fraction with a higher concentration of terpenic compounds and lower levels of negative aroma compounds. Therefore, this sub-fraction presented a much more noticeable floral aroma than the distillate obtained with a traditional alembic., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NP) were selectively impregnated on the external surface of plasma treated activated carbon (AC) granules (referred to as Ag-AC hybrid, having 0.8 wt% of Ag), for achieving continuous disinfection of water in a single flow-column set-up. First, Ag-NPs (28 nm mean size) were synthesized by UV reduction. Subsequently, Escherichia coli cell-killing experiments were performed in both shake flask (i. e. batch-mode) and flow-column (i. e. continuous-mode) operations, using E. coli K12 (MTCC 1302) as a model organism. Batch results using 8 mg Ag-AC hybrid/ml of cell suspension showed that, 10(4) CFU/ml of cells were killed within 25 min contact time, with cell concentration decaying exponentially in time. Maintaining almost the same contact time as in the batch experiments, three columns packed with Ag-AC (all having a height of 25 cm but increasing diameters of 1, 5 and 8 cm, respectively) were used for monitoring cell-killing performance over a long duration. For all columns, inlet water having 10(4) CFU/ml E. coli could be completely disinfected to produce treated, outlet water having zero cell count. Specifically for the 8 cm diameter column, a maximum throughput of treating 1.62 L of contaminated water per hour could be maintained for at least up to 16 days. Moreover, the Ag concentration in the outlet water was only up to 29.8 μg/L at steady state, which is well within the recommended limit of 100 μg/L for drinking water. Hence, water disinfection for potable quality water (zero E. coli count and <100 μg/L Ag) can be achieved in a continuous manner over a long duration, with our packed Ag-AC column., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

For the past few decades, biosorption has been widely investigated for the removal of different contaminants in aqueous media. A number of biomasses of different genre have been identified to possess good biosorption capacity. Insights into biosorption mechanisms have been provided by various researchers in order to develop a fundamental scientific understanding of the biosorption process. However, biosorption has not been employed widely for its large-scale commercial applications. The key factors that affect the growth and evolution of biosorption as a practical technology for decontamination of wastewaters include, (1) lack of investigations on multi-component solutions and wastewaters with complex matrix effects, (2) incomplete understanding of physico-chemical characteristics of biomasses of different types, (3) lack of studies to improve the performance of biosorbents through surface functionalization, and (4) non-integration of biosorption in wastewater/water treatment plants. This critical review aims to identify and discuss the practical limitations of biosorption and provide future research directions to make biosorption a technologically viable process with emphasis on selection and modification of biomasses to suit desired treatment applications, identify appropriate operation modes for large-scale applications of biosorption, and perform techno-economic evaluation of overall biosorption processes., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Natural and alkalized cocoa butters were bleached and subsequently steam refined in a continuous packed column at temperatures ranging between 160 and 220 °C. None of the processes evaluated gave rise to any detectable formation of trans fatty acids, interesterification or polymerization. For the pressures and steam injection rates used, packed-column steam refining required a minimum temperature of 170 °C to achieve acceptable taste. Bleaching was highly effective in preventing darkening at high steam-refining temperatures, as well as in removing alkaloids, such as theobromine and caffeine, before steam refining. The impacts on the crystallization properties of cocoa butter were studied using DSC and P-NMR. The more significant changes in crystallization kinetics and equilibrium values can be reliably predicted on the basis of FFA removal from the butter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Orujo is a traditional alcoholic beverage produced in Galicia (northwest Spain) from distillation of grape pomace, a byproduct of the winemaking industry. In this study, the effect of the distillation system (copper charentais alembic versus packed column) and the yeast strain (native yeast L1 versus commercial yeast L2) on the chemical and sensory characteristics of orujo obtained from Albariño (Vitis vinifera L.) grape pomace has been analyzed. Principal component analysis, with two components explaining 74% of the variance, is able to clearly differentiate the distillates according to distillation system and yeast strain. Principal component 1, mainly defined by C6-C12 esters, isoamyl octanoate, and methanol, differentiates L1 from L2 distillates. In turn, principal component 2, mainly defined by linear alcohols, linalool, and 1-hexenol, differentiates alembic from packed column distillates. In addition, an aroma descriptive test reveals that the distillate obtained with a packed column from a pomace fermented with L1 presented the highest positive general impression, which is associated with the highest fruity and smallest solvent aroma scores. Moreover, chemical analysis shows that use of a packed column increases average ethanol recovery by 12%, increases the concentration of C6-C12 esters by 25%, and reduces the concentration of higher alcohols by 21%. In turn, L2 yeast obtained lower scores in the alembic distillates aroma profile. In addition, with L1, 9% higher ethanol yields were achieved, and L2 distillates contained 34%-40% more methanol than L1 distillates.

CEC is a high performance electrodriving liquid phase separation technique. It does not need complex and sophisticated high pressure instrumentation for nanoflow driving. This is attractive for parallel multicolumn analysis. To this end, high throughput methods for column preparation are needed to support the use of multiple columns. In this study, we directly used CEC mobile phase solution as the packing solvent, and realized rapid preparation of capillary columns based on a single particle fritting technology. The method presented high preparation throughput compared with other reported methods based on various fritting technologies. The single particle fritting approach promoted column preparation throughput to 1 column/h, including all the fritting, packing and conditioning steps. The rapidly prepared columns showed consistently high efficiency of up to 150 000 plates per meter, and usefulness in reversed phase CEC of neutral, charged and biomolecules. With standard peptides as the sample, excellent long term reproducibility (better than 0.8%RSD, ten days, for retention times) was observed., (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)