What Is Separation and Extraction Equipment?
Separation and Extraction Equipment is equipment that performs separation and extraction operations mainly for separating and extracting useful substances from mixtures that exist in the natural world.
Separation is an operation to increase the purity of an object by removing solids mixed in a liquid or droplets mixed in a gas. Extraction is an operation to increase the purity of components by focusing on differences in boiling points, solubility in solvents, and density differences of the target.
The scale of equipment required varies depending on the purpose of separation and extraction, ranging from laboratory scale to large-scale plant scale.
Types of Separation and Extraction Equipment
There are various types of separation and extraction equipment. The equipment is used according to the physical properties of the object to be separated/extracted, the time that can be spent on the operation, and the heat that can be applied.
1. Soxhlet Extractor
Soxhlet extractors are used to concentrate useful components contained in a solid sample by permeating the solid sample with distilled solvent multiple times.
2. Centrifuge
When a mixed liquid is rotated at high speed, centrifugal force is applied to separate the heavier components from the lighter components. Centrifuges perform this centrifugal operation. Large industrial centrifuges and laboratory-level benchtop centrifuges are also available. A cyclone separator is a type of centrifuge that generates this centrifugal force not by rotating the machine but by airflow.
3. Centrifugal Concentrator
A centrifugal concentrator is a facility that performs the above centrifugal separation operations several times to remove impurities by separating components other than the intended ones.
4. HPLC
HPLC is an abbreviation for high-performance liquid chromatography. Components in a mixture differ in their adsorption to specific substances. HPLC is a technique that uses this difference to separate the mixture by passing it through a column.
5. Solid-Liquid Separator
Solid-liquid separators are used in a process generally referred to as filtration. Some filter solids mixed with liquids using the same principle as filter paper, while others create a vacuum to separate solid-liquid by evaporating water under low pressure.
6. Oil Separator
When gas is mixed with lubricating oil in engines, etc., it interferes with the oil’s heat dissipation characteristics. To prevent this, oil separators are equipment that uses a rotary centrifuge to remove the gas.
7. Rotary Evaporator
A rotary evaporator is a distillation device used to concentrate the target component. Rotary refers to the motion of rotating the distillation flask containing the sample. Rotation causes the solvent in the flask to form a thin liquid film, which speeds up the evaporation rate. This allows for faster distillation than other methods.
8. Mist Separator
Air contains fine droplets. If these droplets adhere to the machine, they can cause deterioration. Mist separators use the principle of filtration to absorb droplets of oil and other liquids to create highly pure air.