Volatile Component Recovery from Sulfite Evaporator Condensate

摘要

This study is on the operation and modification of a demonstration unit to remove sulfur dioxide, methanol, furfural, and acetic acid from its sulfite evaporator condensate. This unit consisted of a steam stripper, vent tank SO2 recovery, activated carbon adsorption columns, and fractional distillation columns. The steam stripping and fractional distillation of the stripped material parts operate very successfully with little maintenance being required. The stripping steam is also used to heat the first effect of the multi-effect evaporator. Activated carbon adsorption and ethyl alcohol regeneration of the carbon removes acetic acid from the condensate and recovers it as ethyl acetate, which upon concentration by fractional distillation is 99.5+% pure. This part of the process is still in the development stage.