Koch Modular has donated a pilot-scale KARR column to the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin). This donation supports the department’s ongoing efforts to modernize and expand its undergraduate teaching laboratories, enhancing the practical learning experience for engineering students.

For more than 40 years, Koch Modular has been committed to supporting educational growth by collaborating with numerous academic institutions worldwide. These include the Technical University of Denmark, Syracuse University, Villanova University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Missouri, Miami University, the University of Cincinnati, and Georgia Tech University, among others. Donating to UT Austin reinforces Koch Modular’s commitment to enriching engineering education by providing students with hands-on opportunities to apply their theoretical knowledge.

A Hands-On Approach to Learning

The chemical engineering undergraduate teaching labs at UT Austin include numerous experiments supported by industry leaders such as Emerson, Chevron, Phillips 66, BP, Valero, and Koch Modular. These labs incorporate Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Project-Based Learning (PjBL) approaches, enabling students to engage with real-world scenarios, tackle open-ended challenges, and undertake meaningful research projects, offering students a state-of-the-art educational environment.

“This practical experience further enhances experiential learning in our laboratories,” states Carlos Landaverde-Alvarado, assistant professor of instruction at UT Austin. “The use of the KARR column underlines how industry collaborations can improve the education of engineers by integrating real-world problems to laboratory courses, enhancing student engagement, and connecting student projects to industry applications. The addition of pilot-scale equipment to the ChE laboratories is key as we aim to create more effective links to the practice of the profession and as we help our students develop, solidify, and apply their scientific knowledge.”

Why the KARR^® Column?

The pilot-scale KARR column is a highly effective tool for technical universities, particularly in studying liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) processes. Its design provides the versatility needed to explore a wide range of LLE processes, making it an essential resource for chemical engineering programs. The column’s compact size makes it suitable for laboratories with limited space, while still offering the efficiency needed to achieve numerous theoretical stages. Additionally, its low material volume requirements make it both time and cost-efficient, maximizing its educational value.

Brendan Cross, a principal extraction engineer at Koch Modular and an advocate for the donation, understands the value of students performing pragmatic extraction pilot testing as part of their undergraduate curriculum. “Giving students the ability to conduct tests using a pilot-scale KARR column enables further education on how liquid-liquid extraction processes are developed and validated. This rare opportunity not only teaches students how to use a piece of commercially utilized technology but allows them to learn how pilot testing is performed within the industry, deepening their understanding of complex chemical engineering concepts.”

Data generated from this column can be scaled up accurately, allowing for the precise design of commercial-sized KARR columns. This makes the KARR column not only a valuable educational tool but also a practical asset for industrial applications.

Collaboration Driving Progress

Marisa Meier, an associate director of alumni and corporate relations at UT Austin, highlights the importance of strategic partnerships. “Collaboration between industry and academia is crucial for driving progress in STEM,” she states. “By combining academic research with industrial expertise, we can achieve advancements that benefit both sectors and society at large.”

Koch Modular’s donation is a testament to the company’s commitment to advancing STEM education by providing essential resources to future engineers. This contribution, alongside the support of other industry partners, underscores the importance of collaboration in advancing educational excellence and innovation.

Through initiatives like this, Koch Modular continues to play an instrumental role in equipping students with the skills and knowledge they need to excel in a rapidly changing field.

About Koch Modular

Koch Modular has successfully designed and constructed modular systems for the global chemical processing industry for over 25 years and has over 40 years of process engineering experience. Specializing in mass transfer, Koch Modular supports innovative technology companies on their pathway from concept to commercialization, providing pilot testing and process conceptualization services, process design package development, detailed engineering, and modular constructed systems. To learn more, visit kochmodular.com.

Media Contacts

Emily Steinhauer
CG Life
esteinhauer@cglife.com

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Recently, a significant effort has been made to produce and recover valuable organic chemicals from biomass. The recovery process typically involves several steps, which vary depending on the specific biomass feedstock and the desired end products. A common step upstream of the recovery process is fermentation, where microorganisms transform biomass into valuable chemicals. After fermentation, the organic chemicals produced need to be recovered from the fermentation broth–a mixture containing low concentrations of the targeted chemicals, biomass, and water. Efficiently separating the water from the targeted chemicals presents a challenge because the produced organic chemicals often have higher boiling points than water, or are non-volatile, making traditional separation methods impractical. Removing the water by evaporation or distillation is not economical since the majority of the broth is water. To develop an efficient recovery process, Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) is a promising option.

Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) for Efficient Organic Chemical Recovery

While distillation is a widely used separation technique for recovering organic chemicals based on differences in boiling points, its limitations in energy consumption and potential chemical degradation make it less optimal compared to other methods. To address this, Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE), also known as Solvent Extraction (SX), emerges as a viable alternative. LLE involves the mass transfer of the desired compounds from the aqueous phase into an immiscible organic phase, typically via counter-current contacting of the two phases. This method is useful for separating organic acids and other compounds either directly from the whole broth or after pre-treating the broth to separate less desirable components like cell mass and lignin. 

A few key advantages of LLE: 

• Lower Operating Costs: When LLE is determined to be the optimal unit of operation, it offers cost advantages over conventional distillation, especially in processes that require one or more energy-intensive distillation steps. In such scenarios, less energy is required, reducing operational expenses and enhancing cost efficiency.
•  Recovery of Higher Boiling Compounds: Liquid-liquid extraction efficiently recovers compounds with higher boiling points than water, making it ideal for processes where traditional distillation methods are impractical due to the need to boil off large amounts of water, which has an extremely high heat of vaporization.
• Extraction of Non-Volatile Components: Liquid-liquid extraction is effective in recovering non-volatile components like many hormones and nutraceuticals, which cannot be separated through vaporization. It provides a reliable solution for isolating these components, facilitating their utilization in various industrial processes.
•  Separation of Heat-Sensitive Materials: Liquid-liquid extraction is essential for separating heat-sensitive materials such as antibiotics. Unlike distillation, which involves high temperatures, this method enables separation at ambient or lower temperatures, preserving the integrity and efficacy of heat-sensitive compounds.
•  Efficient Separation of Close-Boiling Mixtures: Liquid-liquid extraction excels in separating close-boiling mixtures that challenge traditional distillation techniques. This is because LLE relies on differences in chemical structure as opposed to distillation, which employs differences in relative volatility to achieve a separation. Furthermore, by selecting an optimal solvent, the LLE process can be designed to be selective, resulting in more efficient downstream purification steps, if required. 

Overall, LLE can offer a more efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly approach to recovering organic chemicals from biomass reaction processes, like fermentation, making it a preferred choice for many industrial applications.

The KARR^® Column: A Superior Extraction Column for Emulsifying Systems

Once LLE is determined to be the most economical separation method for recovering organic chemicals from fermentation broth, it is important to select the right type of extraction column based upon separation efficiency, energy consumption, cost, and throughput. Compared to other extraction technologies, agitated extraction columns offer the optimal solution due to their high efficiency and smaller footprint. 

Koch Modular offers two types of agitated extraction columns: SCHEIBEL^® and KARR^®. When separating mixtures with a relatively high-density difference between the phases and high interfacial tension, a column with rotating internals, such as the SCHEIBEL column, is the best solution. However, fermentation broths often have lower density differences and low interfacial tension and thus are easily prone to emulsification, making the KARR column the superior method due to its reciprocating type agitation. In the KARR column, the reciprocating type agitation involves a plate stack that gently moves up and down versus a rotating impeller. By doing so, the KARR column provides uniform shear mixing across the cross-section as opposed to non-uniform shear mixing found in rotating internals. By introducing uniform shear mixing, the KARR column produces a more uniform dispersed phase particle size distribution. This type of mixing has been proven to be optimal for these systems via many different applications, whereby the tendency to emulsify can be significantly reduced and even eliminated.

Designing an Efficient LLE System

When considering the addition of an LLE system into your process, the following three steps are key for a successful design:

1. Solvent Selection and Laboratory Testing: are necessary to generate the liquid-liquid equilibrium data and to evaluate the hydraulic behavior of the system. Based upon mixing and settling behavior, the selection of the KARR vs the SCHEIBEL column can often be made. 
2. Pilot Plant Testing: should be performed to generate data for accurate production equipment design. Koch Modular handles this at its pilot facility in Houston, Texas.
3. Complete System Design: downstream distillation is usually required to recover the solvents for recycling and to selectively recover and purify the chemicals of interest. It is critical to have a good understanding of the composition of the LLE feed and the final compositions of both the extract and raffinate phases leaving the extraction column so that the downstream distillation columns can be designed accordingly.

Solving the Fermentation Process

In addressing the challenge of acetic acid recovery from a fermentation broth of waste wood material, a leading biorefinery developer sought Koch Modular’s expertise. Having encountered emulsification issues and poor separation during pilot testing in a rotating disc contactor column, the client provided fermentation broth to Koch Modular for additional pilot testing.

Koch Modular successfully conducted pilot testing using a 1” diameter KARR column, achieving close to 99% extraction of acetic acid from the fermentation broth. Notably, the solvent-to-feed ratio was reduced from 2 (per the client’s estimate) to 1.5. This efficient extraction process was pivotal, surpassing the client’s expected and targeted recovery of acetic acid from the fermentation broth. 

The modular system designed by Koch Modular included the KARR column for extraction of acetic acid from the broth, a downstream raffinate stripping column, and a distillation column for generating acetic acid product and recycling the solvent back to the extraction step. The KARR column has a 22” diameter and reflected 484 times scale up from the 1” diameter column used during pilot testing.

In light of these achievements, the client progressed to the adoption of proven esterification technology for further product conversion. The esterification part of the plant transformed acetic acid into ethyl acetate, a valuable salable product and the chemical precursor crucial for the client’s cellulosic ethanol production. This collaborative effort demonstrates the practical application of innovative solutions in addressing challenges associated with biorefinery processes.

Conclusion

The integration of LLE, especially with column designs like KARR, proves instrumental in addressing the complexities of biomass processing, offering economic viability, sustainability, and breakthroughs in organic chemical recovery. The acetic acid extraction case study exemplifies the successful application of LLE to mitigate unique separations challenges as well as emphasizing the critical steps required in designing an efficient LLE system, from solvent selection and laboratory testing to pilot plant testing and complete system design. 

Authors

Chat with Don
Don Glatz is the Manager of Extraction Technology at Koch Modular. With a remarkable career spanning over 47 years, Don is an expert in evaluating, optimizing, scaling, and designing extraction processes. His profound knowledge and experience have been shared through numerous published papers and articles. Don holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, complemented by an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. His invaluable contributions continue to shape the field of extraction technology.

Email: donald.glatz@kochmodular.com

Chat with Brendan
Brendan Cross is a Principal Extraction Engineer at Koch Modular that works in the Extraction Technology Group. Brendan is responsible for liquid-liquid extraction application evaluation, extraction process development, and pilot test design, extraction column design, and commissioning & process startup. He has been with Koch Modular for 15 years and also has substantial experience in distillation and process design. Brendan holds a BS in chemical engineering from Columbia University.

Email: brendan.cross@kochmodular.com

The post Revolutionizing Biomass Processing: Unlocking the Potential of Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) in Organic Chemical Recovery appeared first on Koch Modular Process System.

Join Koch Modular at the AIChE 2023 Spring Meeting and 19th Global Congress on Process Safety in Houston, Texas, March 12-16, 2023, as our industry experts share their expertise on separation technology and applications within the chemical processing industry. 

At this year’s convention, Koch Modular Principal Extraction Engineer, Brendan Cross, will discuss the advantages of solvent extraction to extract contaminants from industrial wastewater streams on Wednesday, March 15th, 2023, at 10:15 am CST in room 343B at the Hilton Americas.

“The Global Water Crisis continues to push the chemical processing industry to engineer efficient processes to recycle wastewater,” said Cross. “We’re excited to share our unique expertise and discuss the economic benefits of applying solvent extraction to remove contaminants from industrial wastewater,” Cross added. 

Our experienced engineers are ready to discuss the challenges associated with designing complex separation processes for optimal product recovery and purification.

Stop by booth #226 to chat with one of our experienced engineers. 

Read the full abstract HERE.

Chat with Brendan
Brendan Cross is a Principal Extraction Engineer at Koch Modular that works in the Extraction Technology Group. Brendan is responsible for liquid-liquid extraction application evaluation, extraction process development, and pilot test design, extraction column design, and commissioning & process startup. He has been with Koch Modular for 15 years and also has substantial experience in distillation and process design. Brendan holds a BS in chemical engineering from Columbia University.

Email: brendan.cross@kochmodular.com

Direct: 201-267-8983

The post Koch Modular to Discuss Solvent Extraction as an Application to Remove Contaminants from Wastewater at AIChE Spring Meeting and 19th Global Congress on Process Safety appeared first on Koch Modular Process System.

As a proud Gold Sponsor for the 2022 International Solvent Extraction Conference (ISEC), Koch Modular is ready to showcase industry leadership and innovation at this year’s conference held at the Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden, September 26-30, 2022.

On Thursday, September 29, 2022, at 2:50 pm CEST., Koch Modular Extraction Technology Manager, Donald Glatz, will present on optimal mixing in agitated extraction columns. When designing an agitated column, the goal is to find the optimal speed to produce the best possible efficiency. Companies typically have two options for providing mixing in agitated columns: rotating type impellers and reciprocating plates. Donald’s presentation will explore the relative benefits of these two types of mixing techniques and how each can be used to provide the best column design for different types of two-phase systems for liquid-liquid extraction (LLE).

“The International Solvent Extraction Conference has always been an important event for us and a chance to engage directly with a wide range of industry colleagues––from early career researchers to established engineers,” said Glatz. “We’re excited to bring our unique knowledge to the table to further enrich the extraction technology field and to address the challenges that would otherwise limit the process development capabilities of companies worldwide,” Glatz added.

Our experienced extraction engineers look forward to sharing their expertise on extraction technology and applications within the chemical processing industry.

Read the full press release HERE.

Chat with Don

Don Glatz is the Manager of Extraction Technology at Koch Modular. Don’s activities include the evaluation and optimization of extraction processes plus scale-up and design of extraction systems. He has been working in this field for the past 25 years and has published a number of papers and articles covering this subject. Don holds a BS in chemical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Email: donald.glatz@kochmodular.com

Direct: 201-394-1580

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Understanding The Use of Shake Tests

So, where to start? Shake tests provide equilibrium data for the two immiscible phases. Solvent-to-feed ratio and number of stages the process will ultimately require can be gleaned using an advance on the old handheld separation funnel.

The current shake test method uses a jacketed, round-bottom flask with a standard half-moon impellor and a bottom outlet. The contents are brought to temperature with slow mixing. At temperature, the agitation speed is increased in excess of 1,000 rpm for exactly two minutes, agitation shut off, and the phases allowed to separate, be decanted and then analyzed. More mixing time may be required with very viscous liquids. If the liquids tend to form an emulsion, the agitation speed is slowed down.

How is Equilibrium Data Collected?

After the first mix-decant sequence, the raffinate is returned to the flask and mixed with fresh solvent at the projected solvent to feed (S/F) ratio. The sequence is repeated until the desired solute concentration is reached (usually 4-6x). Our extraction experts will note the sharpness of the interface between the phases and how quickly reached, signs of emulsification or precipitates at the interface, etc. All this data is captured in a log sheet by our shake test operator and provided to you in a report. The report will recommend the type of LLE column best suited for your separation.

Shake test data can be generated in as little as a few days providing critical information for scale up and more accurate pilot plant testing at the get-go. For more detailed information, check out our article in Chemical Engineering from October 2018.

The post Liquid-Liquid Extraction: Generating Equilibrium Data appeared first on Koch Modular Process System.

Challenges of Extracting Carboxylic Acid from Aqueous Fermentation Broth

When extracting carboxylic acids from an aqueous fermentation broth generated in a cellulosic ethanol process, using ethyl acetate as the solvent of choice, initial attempts by the end user to develop the LLE process step in a rotating disc contactor (RDC) proved to be unsatisfactory.

Solving Emulsification Issues with the KARR® Column

Poor product recovery (< 90%) and a high solvent to feed ratio required (≥ 1.7) were not acceptable. The end user knew that the process had a high tendency towards emulsification. Armed with this information, Koch Modular tested the process in a 25 mm diameter KARR® Column. The KARR® Column demonstrated excellent operability, generating fine dispersion of the solvent phase at low agitation speed as expected for systems which tend to emulsify.

How Did the KARR® Column Perform?

Results?
• The solvent to feed ratio was improved to 1.5.
• The acid recovery was increased to 98-99% at slightly elevated temperature (40-45 oC).

With many more stories to share and solve for our clients, we are always happy to hear from you! If you’ve got a difficult separations problem, please send an email to contact@kochmodular.com or call us at +1 201 267 8670.

The post Emulsification: No Match for the KARR® Column appeared first on Koch Modular Process System.

Recovering Valuable Products from Biomass via Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE)

Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) is an ideal unit operation for the removal of many of these compounds either directly from the broth itself (whole broth) or from the broth after some pre-treatment step to separate the less desirable components such as cell mass, lignin, etc.

Many biomass systems, especially those produced by fermentation processes or by algae ponds demonstrate a tendency towards emulsification upon contact with the extraction solvent.

KARR® Column to the Rescue

Years of experience have shown that the reciprocating type agitation used by a KARR® Column is superior to rotating internals for systems that have a tendency to emulsify². Selection of the column type is critical in order to optimize the performance and cost for the extraction process.

Liquid-Liquid Extraction Design Requirements

Three steps to a complete system design include:

1. Solvent Selection and Laboratory Testing are necessary to generate the liquid-liquid equilibrium data and to evaluate the hydraulic behavior for the system.
2.  Pilot Plant Testing should be performed to generate data for accurate design of production equipment. Koch Modular handles this at its pilot facility in Texas.
3. Complete System Design: Downstream distillation is usually required to recover the solvents for recycle and to selectively recover and purify the chemicals of interest. It is critical to have a good understanding of the composition of the LLE feed as well as the final compositions of both the extract and raffinate phases leaving the extraction column so that the distillation columns can be designed accordingly.

Bring your toughest biomass challenges to discuss at our booth at ACHEMA next month. We will have an extraction column on site and our subject matter expert, Don Glatz, is available for detailed technical conversations.

The post Fermentation in Your Process? appeared first on Koch Modular Process System.

Popular Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) Applications

When is LLE used?
• Separation is not feasible by distillation
• Breaking of azeotropes
• Energy requirements of distillation are prohibitive
• A complex distillation sequence is required
• The material is heat sensitive
• The solute material is non-volatile

The general rule: If a separation can be made economically by distillation, there is no reason to consider LLE. However, in situations where distillation is not feasible for reasons such as a complex process sequence, high investment or operating costs, heat sensitive materials, or low volatility, LLE is often the best technology to use and we head to our Houston-based pilot plant, often with clients alongside.

How does Koch Modular offer Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE) Services?

As Wendy Parker, Pilot Plant Director, said recently, “Clients will come to us with a problem first. Our skilled chemical engineers will work out how best to solve it, and then our pilot plant proves it.” Koch Modular provides a Process Performance Guarantee and will not build an extraction column without pilot plant testing the separation first.

Furthermore, the pilot plant can visually highlight problematic areas that will affect the equipment design:

Observations
• Can you see emulsification?
• How fast do the two phases separate?
• Is there a rag layer formation?

One of our applications required the extraction of methanol from an organic stream using water as the solvent. The target was to reduce the methanol concentration in the organic phase from 2.5% to less than 0.1% using a specified amount of water (S/F = 0.32, weight basis). The liquid- liquid equilibrium data showed that 5-6 theoretical stages were required. A pilot KARR® Column was set up. Due to the low S/F ratio (low water rate relative to the organic feed rate) the organic phase (light phase) was selected as the continuous phase and thus the interface was controlled at the bottom of the column. Pilot testing showed that higher capacity could easily be achieved with modified plate spacing. The desired raffinate concentration was achieved after several runs in the pilot plant, and then replicated. Based upon these results, a 45” diameter KARR® Column was designed, built and has operated successfully for this process.

Everyone has their favorite extraction columns! For delicate products like bio broths from a fermenter that tend to easily emulsify, the KARR® Column solution is often chosen, because the shear forces are gentler and more uniform across the column internals, which allows delicate biologics to remain intact.

The post Do you remember what LLE means? appeared first on Koch Modular Process System.

While large CPI projects are a big part of what we do, our team here at Koch Modular really digs in when a developing technology comes our way.

The creative development of a process pathway gets chemical engineers energized. Koch Modular has A LOT of chemical engineers with decades of experience, plus project managers, mechanical and process controls engineers, and civil engineers. We’re a team that has worked together for twenty-five years, designing solutions with our unparalleled separations expertise and modular construction know-how.

Do You Want To Convert Biomass To Fuel? Are You Seeking Brand-New Chemical Conversion For A Biochemical Product?

Developing tech knows a lot about their own stoichiometry, knows which catalyst works and why, and deeply understands their kinetics, inside and out! Yet, until they got to know us, our developing technology clients did not know they needed Koch Modular’s expertise.

Now, our developing technology clients often come to us with just conceptual chemical processes – and stay for the collaboration.

Why Choose Koch Modular Chemical Processing Equipment?

Koch Modular understands that developing technology companies require expertise that goes beyond a scale-able process design. When you are an early stage technology company, you need an engineering firm with the time and patience to work side-by-side with you, making sure that timelines are set and reality checks are woven in along the way. We start with discussions on concept development, followed by technical and commercial modeling, detailed design, construction, and even plant start-up, resulting in successful first production. This can be a longer process not easily tolerated by larger engineering firms.

To go from a chemical process idea to fully functional manufacturing reality means looking out years into the future.

Koch Modular is ready to listen.

Talk to the Engineering Firm that Listens.

The post Innovative Chemical Processes – Developing Technology Companies appeared first on Koch Modular Process System.

And That’s Just The Beginning

Supervising The Development of The Scheibel® Column

Maybe you glimpsed him in Finland, where he attended a conference on biochemical process development. Or in South Africa, where he supervised the successful start-up for a Scheibel® Column supplied by KMPS. The design for this column was based upon testing in our Houston, TX pilot plant.

If you happened to be in Tennessee at the right time, you may have noticed Don helping to optimize the performance of an existing extraction column for a large specialty chemical company, to improve product recovery.

It’s no accident that Don Glatz has done so much globetrotting in the service of his liquid-liquid extraction clients. He is after all a leading expert in this field, and has a 35 year track record of professionalism and excellence.

You Can Put Don’s Liquid-Liquid Extraction Expertise To Work For You

Don’s expertise encompasses evaluating and optimizing liquid-liquid extraction processes, as well as overseeing the scale-up and design of extraction systems and columns. During the course of his travels, he has published numerous papers and articles on these subjects, and is a frequent speaker and seminar leader.

To find out more check out our white papers. Webchat Don on our home page  to see how Koch Modular can work with you to solve your most challenging separations problems.

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