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UIC: leading international supplier Specialized in the engineering and delivery of turnkey plants, UIC designs each solution to meet specic customer requirements. Today, we are a leading supplier of vacuum distillation plants around the world.
Applications While vacuum distillation plants cover large areas of the process industry, common requirements of all applications are particularly gentle process conditions. The thermal load of heat-sensitive substances is minimized to avoid any deterioration of quality.
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An overview of applications:
Stearic acid
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Vapor pressure (mm Hg)
Food additives Oils and fats Flavors and fragrances Fine chemicals Pharmaceutical products Separation of monomers and polymers Mineral oil products
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Temperature C
Vapor pressure curve
In the process industry, substances are usually not available as pure materials, but as mixtures. There are many reasons why substances or groups of substances are separated from mixtures: to improve quality to optimize the subsequent process steps to reduce hazards (toxicity, environmental pollution, or inammable components, etc.)
of substances often distilled in a typical Thin Film and Short Path Distillation application. It is evident that the vapor pressure for the four illustrated pure components differs in each case by about 1 to 2 decades at constant temperature. The thermal separation by means of distillation is a composition of partial evaporation of a liquid mixture of substances and a partial or total condensation of the resulting vapors. In order to achieve economically interesting evaporation rates, an evaporation temperature very close to the boiling temperature is aimed for. The boiling temperature is reached when the vapor pressure is equal to the ambient pressure. High evaporation temperatures may have an extremely negative inuence on the quality of the substances to be separated by means of distillation, e. g. due to thermal decomposition, disequilibrium of monomer / oligomer mixtures, polymerization, etc. The amount of such undesirable chemical reactions increases both with the temperature and with the time of exposure to thermal load.
The technologies to separate such mixtures make use of various chemical or physical properties of the substances, e. g. the solubility (solvent extraction, supercritical extraction), the density (decantation) or the melting point (crystallization). Distillation is a thermal separation technology and based on in simple terms the difference of the vapor pressures that individual components of the mixture have at the same temperature. Vapor pressure is the pressure achieved at a certain temperature in the state of equilibrium above the liquid phase of a pure substance. A Pascal (Pa) is the ofcial measuring unit of pressure and also of vapor pressure. One Pa = 1 N/m (Newton per square meter). The measuring unit bar or mbar (millibar) is also applied in vacuum technology, using the following conversion formula:
100 Pa (Pascal) = 1 hPa (Hektopascal) = 1 mbar
Gentle Distillation Many organic substances such as vitamins, avors, fragrances, pharmaceuticals, and similar substances reach their thermal load limit at low temperatures. Due to the required high temperatures, a distillation at normal pressure (approx. 1000 mbar) would therefore result in a loss of quality. It is, however, possible to considerably reduce the boiling temperatures by lowering the pressure. This means carrying out distillation under vacuum. By nding a suitable operation pressure under vacuum, reducing the boiling temperature compared to the atmospheric distillation by 200C and more is possible. The design of an appropriate distillation device must consider that the vapor volume will increase reciprocally in proportion to the decreasing pressure. A reduction of the pressure from 1000 mbar to 1 mbar results in a 1000-fold increase in volume.
Even older is the Torr measuring unit (also called mm Hg). One Torr corresponds to the pressure of a mercury column of 1 mm height. (1 Torr = 1.3332 hPa = 1.3332 mbar) Vapor pressures rise or fall exponentially to the temperature. At a constant temperature, substances with a higher molecular weight often have a lower vapor pressure. The diagram shown at the left side displays, in a semilogarithmic scale, the above mentioned dependency
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driveshaft
vapor nozzle
heating jacket
roller wiper
residue
The UIC wiper system consists of rollers aligned in segments, one on top of the other, beaded on guiding rods. The guiding rods are mechanically connected to each other and to the rotating distribution plate to form a wiper basket (see photo on the right). When the wiper basket rotates, the rollers are pressed into the downward owing liquid lm by centrifugal force and also rotate around their own axis. A bow
Installation of a wiper basket with wiper rollers into an RF 4500 Thin Film Evaporator (evaporation surface area: 45 m)
Wiper rollers
driveshaft
internal condenser
roller wiper
Internal condenser
distillate nozzle
Construction materials are borosilicate glass (for laboratory plants) and stainless steels or highly corrosion resistant alloys (for pilot and industrial plants). One of the outstanding features of all UIC plants is that each one is designed and built in accordance with the specic requirements of each and every task. This applies also to the secondary components, which are required for a perfect operation of the Thin Film Evaporators and Short Path Distillators. Separate brochures are available for more information about the turnkey plants from UIC.
Distillation plant with Thin Film Evaporator (22 m) and Short Path Distillator (15 m)
Thin Film Evaporator Condenser alignment: Typical operation pressures: Applications: External 1 - 1000 mbar Mainly as pre-stage upstream from Short Path Distillators, e. g. separation of large amounts of solvents
Short Path Distillator Internal 0.001 - 1 mbar For the thermal separation of mixtures of materials that can only be exposed to very low thermal loads
Applications
The UIC Thin Film Evaporators and Short Path Distillators are used for the following tasks: Concentration and depletion Removal of solvents Color improvement Separation of reaction side products Separation of excess educts Separation of monomers, dimers, trimers, oligomers
Thin Film and Short Path Distillation are ideal for: Separation of mixtures of materials that contain at least one valuable product, with a minimal thermal load to avoid decomposition, deterioration of color, etc. Separation of materials with high boiling points Avoidance of high temperatures that would disturb the reaction balance between individual components in an undesirable way during distillation Thin Film and Short Path Distillation plants are also successfully used for the following applications: Food additives / oils and fats Fish oil ethyl ester Fish oils Monoglycerides Tocopherol - concentration of Omega-3 fatty acids (DHA, EPA) - separation of pesticides - physical de-acidication - concentrations up to >95 % - separation of natural tocopherols from deodorizer condensate - concentration of synthetic tocopherols - color improvement - separation from palm oil - separation from palm oil - gentle de-acidication without damnication of tocotrienol and carotene contents - separation of water - concentration - color improvement - separation from vegetable oils - separation of solvents - increase of the color bodies
Pharmaceutical products Pharmaceutical intermediate and nal products - separation of solvents - separation of reactive by-products - color improvement
Flavors & Fragrances Nootkaton Sinesal, Valencen Patchouli oil / vetiver oil Wool waxes, wool alcohols Pepper, ginger, jasmine oils - fractionation from grapefruit oil - fractionation from orange oil - concentration - color improvement - separation of pesticides - color improvement - color improvement - concentration
Fine chemicals Synthetic vitamins - separation of reaction side products - color improvement - concentration - separation of light volatiles - fractionation - color improvement - fractionation - color improvement - separation of solvents - concentration
Silicone oils Fischer-Tropsch waxes PE waxes Natural waxes UV stabilizers for varnishes
Monomer / polymer separations Dimer fatty acids Epoxy resins Polyurethane prepolymers - separation of monomers, trimers, and oligomers - separation of solvents - concentration of monomers - separation of solvents - separation of monomers (e. g. MDI, TDI, HDI) Mineral oil products Vacuum residues - characterization in laboratories (fractionation) - cuts up to 700C AET - yield improvement - recycling - color improvement - fractionation - color improvement
Why do test distillations? To clarify if a given separation task with regard to its separation efciency, yield, thermal load, etc. - can be solved by Thin Film or Short Path Distillation (feasibility studies) Provide parameters required for the design of large industrial plants (up-scaling) Identify performance limitations to determine process guarantees Produce product samples, e. g. for chemical analysis, physical tests or
Modular distillation plant
The UIC Technology Center The UIC Technology Center distills sample quantities from 0.1 kg to 1000 kg. The following plants are available to perform test distillations: Type of plant Laboratory Plants KDL 1 KDL 5 Pilot Plants KD 6 Multi-stage plant x x Degasser Falling Film Evaporator Rectification Column Thin Film Evaporator Short Path Distillator x x x x Typical sample quantities 0.5 kg 3.0 - 5.0 kg 50 - 100 kg 200 - 500 kg
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x x x
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laboratory & pilot plants experienced distillation specialists Detailed information about our laboratory and pilot plants is available in a separate brochure. Experienced distillation specialists supervise the plants and optimize the distillation parameters. Each and every part of the distillation plants is thoroughly cleaned after each distillation run to make sure no carry-over from one sample material to another occurs. When working under GMP conditions, an intermediate distillation run with a solvent is performed after the cleaning of the plant. This procedure is done as long as the material distilled previously can no longer be analytically traced in the solvent. Prior to starting any trial distillation, a careful brieng is done with the customer. Our specialists benet from the experience of over 4,000 trial series runs made during the past years. Both the KDL 5 laboratory plant and the pilot plants in our Technology Center run under a PLC control system. The operation parameters are represented in tables and as curves and are part of the test report given to the customer. Because they know the products and the analytical methods best suited for the material examination, the analytical examinations of distillate and residue samples obtained in the UIC Technology Center are usually done by the customers specialists. The analysis results and the operation parameters of the test plants are the basis for the up-scaling, i. e. the dimensioning of large plants for industrial production. To prepare the trial distillations and ensure the safety of our staff and equipment, customers provide the following information prior to carrying out trial runs at the UIC Technology Center: Detailed description of the distillation (a questionnaire is available from our website) A material safety data sheet Special instructions regarding storage and transportation, in particular for hazardous goods
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We offer Feasibility studies Distillation trials for laboratory and pilot plants performed at the UIC Technology Center Basic and detailed engineering Delivery of turnkey plants for R&D, pilot, and industrial applications Plant start-up, commissioning, and process optimization Leak detection, maintenance, and repair Spare parts service Consulting and support through our worldwide network
Ask for our other brochures UIC GmbH The Specialist in Vacuum Distillation Plants Laboratory and Pilot Plants Distillation Plants for Industrial Production
UIC GmbH
UIC GmbH info Am Neuen Berg 4 Am Neuen Telefon: +4946023 Phone: 950 0 +49E-Mail: info @ uic-gmbh.de Berg 6023 950 0@ uic-gmbh.de Alzenau 6023 950 250 www.uic-gmbh.de D-63755 Alzenau D-63755 Telefax: +49 6023 Fax: 950 250+49www.uic-gmbh.de