Concentration of an emulsion polymer

[Jamal]

Engineering fraternity<br>
<br>
I am faced with a real practical industrial problem of concentration an emulsion polymer containing essentially 30% w/w polymer particles, 40% w/w water and 30% w/w oil. I have trialled thin film evaporation technology with a good degree of success; however, the economics make it difficult to adopt this method. Could this be tackled more economically by other means e.g. pervaporation, pertraction or reverse osmosis?<br>
<br>
I would welcome any thoughts.<br>
<br>
Regards

 

[reinout]

try new logic at vsep.com they are great in handling high fouling apps

 

I agree -- New Logic's VSEP is the best high solids separation solution I have ever piloted. Check out

http://www.vsep.com

for more information.

 

[dcfg]

Sounds like you should remove the polymer particles first. Pervaporation would be ok if youre oil water mixture wont separate readily by distillation ie if it forms an azeotrope. Pervaporation membranes can be limited in their durability and compatibility. Other wise stick to distillation.

What size are the polymer particles and waht is their sg? That will tell you whether centrifuging is possible.

You probably want to do the bulk solids removal first since any oil water separation stage would work better with a purely liquid feed.