Operation with Three Liquid Phases in a Staged Liquid-Liquid Contactor

摘要

Operation with three liquid phases was demonstrated in a staged liquid-liquid contactor. The possibility that three liquid phases could be handled in a liquid-liquid contactor normally used with two liquid phases was initially established using a laboratory batch test. Tht three liquid phases were obtained using a thorium flow sheet having high concentrations of both acid and thorium. To analyze the batch test, the concept of a dimensionless dispersion number for use with two liquid phases was extended so that it could be applied to three liquid phases. Based on the batch tests, continuous flow tests were run in a staged liquid-liquid contactor used for solvent extraction. A critical factor in the success of these tests was determining the position of the liquid-liquid interface in the contactor. Thus, a contactor was used which allows the position of the liquid-liquid interface to be adjusted. Actual three-phase operation was demonstrated using a 4-cm annular centrifugal contactor, albeit with a somewhat greater (3 to 4 vol. %) aqueous-phase contamination of the organic exit stream than normal. (ERA citation 08:041703)