SINTEF – Chemical/Physical separations

Thermal separation

SINTEFs equipment for separation based on thermal properties includes a vacuum batch distillation unit with a feed volume of 3L, and a maximum temperature of 200 °C. Further a condenser array for stage wise condensation of pyrolysis oil fractions is installed downstream the pyrolysis unit. The capacity of pyrolysis and condenser is 0.5 kg of bio oil per hour.

Separation by membranes

For gas separation including CO2/H2/O2/methane separation various membrane modules with membrane areas of few square centimetres to several decimetres are available.

For liquid phase separation a bench scale pervaporation rig (10 bar(g), t_max = 230°C, capacity 100 ml/h) and a reverse osmosis unit (100 bar(g), t_max = 80°C, capacity 100 ml/h) are in operation. Further an electrodialysis setup for separation of organic acids from aqueous solution with a capacity of 150 ml/h is available.

Gas adsorption systems

Various gas-solid adsorption systems with adsorbant bed capacities from gram scale up to a few kgs are in operation. These include adsorption breakthrough test rigs in gram scale and a 4-column simulated moving bed system with a gas feed rate up to 120 L/h, an pressure of 70 bar and a temperature of 200 °C.

Liquid-Liquid extraction

Two systems for liquid-liquid extraction are available: The first is a 5-stage mixer settler with a hold-up 0.1 – 0.5 litres and a capacity of 50 – 100 ml/h. Further a counter current pulsed column with a hold-up of 0.4 litres and a capacity of 50 – 100 ml/h is available.

Precipitation

In-house made precipitation and sedimentation equipment is available with holdup capacities from few millilitres up to 50 litres.

In addition SINTEF has standard lab equipment, such as freeze dryers, rotary evaporator, several centrifuges with vial volumes up to several litres, soxhlet extraction equipment in use at various labs.