EXTRACTOR FOR CENTRIFUGAL PARTITION EXTRACTION AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING CENTRIFUGAL PARTITION EXTRACTION

摘要

One aspect of the invention relates to an extractor for centrifugal partition extraction, having: a chamber cascade arranged in the circumferential direction of a designated centrifugal field, for receiving a heavy phase and a light phase, the chamber cascade having at least a first chamber and at least a second chamber; a first pump device connected to the chamber cascade, for pumping the heavy phase through the chamber cascade along a first circumferential direction; a second pump device connected to the chamber cascade, for pumping the light phase through the chamber cascade along a second circumferential direction opposite to the first circumferential direction; a first channel connected to the first chamber and the second chamber, for discharging the heavy phase from the first chamber and for feeding the heavy phase into the second chamber; a second channel connected to the second chamber and the first chamber, for discharging the light phase from the second chamber and for feeding the light phase into the first chamber; and a control device for operating the first pump device and the second pump device. The control device is designed such that, in ordinary operation, either the first pump device is operated with a first cycle time (t₁) or the second pump device is operated with a second cycle time (t2), and the first cycle time (t1) and the second cycle time (t2) are selected such that substantially only the heavy phase flows completely through the first channel and substantially only the light phase flows completely through the second channel. Due to the substantially alternating brief pumping operation in the first and second channels, a counter-current principle can be achieved for the extractor without risking a back-flow of the phases contrary to the intended flow direction, thus enabling a good separation performance in the centrifugal extraction.