JPH0240219A - Solution separating apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to a solution separation device that separates mixed components from a mixed solution by pervaporation.

[Prior Art] Pervaporation is applied, for example, to the case where water is separated and removed from alcohol mixed with water. Conventionally, as shown in FIG. 3, a mixed solution of alcohol d and water e is passed through a solution flow path 21, and a separating means 22 as shown in the figure is interposed in the middle of the thread path. is common. This separation means 22 connects a functional membrane 23 capable of selectively permeating only water e from a mixed solution to a flow path 21.
The outside of this functional film 23 is provided facing the cooling device 24.
and a separator 25, and is configured to be evacuated by a vacuum pump 26.

As a result, the water e mixed in the alcohol d is successively permeated and vaporized from the functional membrane 23 to the outside by the continuous suction force of the vacuum pump 26, and is also vaporized by the cooling device 24 before reaching the suction port of the vacuum pump 26. It is condensed and liquefied, and is separated and removed by the separator 25.

According to this method, it is possible to concentrate brewed alcohol without deteriorating its quality, and if other functional membranes are used, it can be expected to be developed into a variety of applications corresponding to those.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when the configuration shown in the drawing is adopted as the pervaporation method, two problems arise: cooling efficiency and exhaust efficiency.

The former problem is caused by the fact that exhaust and cooling are performed on the same line. That is, according to this configuration,
Since the water vapor e entering the cooling device 24 is in a state where the pressure is reduced and the partial pressure is low, the condensation temperature is lower than the value at room temperature, and it will not liquefy with normal cooling. For this reason, especially when a large amount of solution separation is to be carried out, a very large cooling device 24 must be provided, which is an inconvenience. Furthermore, the influence of the latent heat of vaporization of the mixed solution on this cannot be ignored.

The latter problem occurs when water e that is not removed by the separator 25 enters the vacuum pump 26. In this case, due to the former problem, the efficiency decreases more significantly as the amount increases, and even if the pump 26 is rotated at full speed, it simply idles and the pressure does not drop. This also has a problem in that the intake side X of the vacuum pump 26 has a closed circuit configuration in which air does not flow smoothly, and if the inside of the vacuum pump 26 becomes thin, it will also idle. In order to avoid these situations, there is no choice but to increase the pump capacity, and similarly to the cooling device 24, increasing the size cannot be avoided.

Furthermore, if the vacuum pump 26 is discharged into the atmosphere at a low temperature and low pressure, the system efficiency will decrease, so a heating means other than the one shown is provided, but this eliminates the waste of having to separately provide a cooling device and a heating device. occurs.

The above-mentioned problems can occur not only when using a mixed solution of water and alcohol, but also when permeating vaporization using the illustrated apparatus.

The present invention has been made with attention to such problems, and an object of the present invention is to suitably solve these problems.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following configuration.

That is, the solution separation device of the present invention has a solution distribution system through which a mixed solution of a main component and a mixed component flows, a turbine and a compressor uniaxially connected by a shaft, and a low-pressure system through which gas adiabatically expanded by the turbine is passed through. a pressurizing/decreasing mechanism configured to introduce the mixed solution into the compressor through the filter, a functional membrane capable of selectively permeating only the mixed components without transmitting the main components of the mixed solution; A separation chamber configured to allow indirect contact between the mixed solution flowing in the distribution system and the gas flowing in the low pressure system, and an intervening device in the low pressure system downstream of the separation chamber The invention is characterized in that it is equipped with a mixed component extracting means provided therein.

[Operation] The low-temperature, low-pressure gas adiabatically expanded by the turbine is introduced into the separation chamber. In the separation chamber, the gas and mixed solution come into indirect contact across the functional membrane, so that the mixed components permeate from the functional membrane from the solution flow path side to the low pressure system path side. The gas enters the mixture extraction means, entraining this mixture. Here, the mixed components in the gas are removed. Finally, the gas is introduced into a compressor where it is adiabatically compressed and then released into the atmosphere. On the other hand, a solution with a high concentration of the main component, in which the mixed components are separated, is obtained from the separation chamber.

However, with this configuration, adiabatic expansion by the turbine can efficiently perform cooling and depressurization at the same time, so it is possible to achieve the low pressure state and mixing required for pervaporation without increasing the size of the system. The low temperature conditions required for condensation of the components can be obtained relatively easily.

When the mixed components are effectively separated in this way, the amount of steam that goes around to the compressor becomes extremely small, so it is almost impossible for the steam to adversely affect the compression ability of the compressor.

Moreover, since the low-pressure line is connected from the turbine to the compressor, and air is constantly circulating, it is essentially impossible for the compressor to become more diluted than necessary and run idly. In addition, when gas is adiabatically compressed by a compressor, the temperature and pressure can be increased without the need for a heating means, making it easier to release the gas into the atmosphere. The generated power is input to the compressor via the shaft and used as energy for adiabatic compression. Therefore, according to this configuration, there is no waste in providing a cooling device and a heating device separately, and the system efficiency is significantly improved due to effective use of energy.

The above can be summarized as follows. In other words, in conventional equipment, when cooling means and exhaust means are installed, due to the above-mentioned problems caused by the system configuration, they are unable to fully demonstrate their capabilities, and in order to compensate for this, an unnecessarily large capacity is required. I had to use one. On the other hand, with this device, there is no system failure, so the turbine compressor's full potential is fully utilized, making it possible to service the equipment with the minimum necessary capacity. Other benefits to improve system efficiency, such as energy recovery from the single-shaft coupling between the turbine and compressor, are also obtained, resulting in a system with high pervaporation capacity relative to customer traffic. will be done.

[Example] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, this solution separation device consists of a solution distribution system 1 through which a mixed solution A consisting of a main component a and a mixed component
The shaft 2 connects the turbine 3 and the compressor 4 uniaxially, and the gas C expanded adiabatically in the turbine 3
a pressure regulator +746 which introduces the mixture into the compressor 4 via the low pressure line 5, and a functional membrane which can selectively permeate only the mixed components without permeating the main component a of the mixed solution A. 7, and a separation chamber 8 configured so that the mixed solution A flowing in the solution distribution system 1 and the gas C flowing in the low pressure system 5 can come into indirect contact via the functional membrane 7. and a mixed component extracting means 9 interposed in the low pressure line 5 on the downstream side of the separation chamber 8. In addition, a regenerative heat exchanger 10 and a compressor 11 driven by a motor are provided. It is equipped with

To explain specifically along the flow of gas C, gas C is introduced into the turbine 3 and performs work on the turbine 3,
At this time, it expands adiabatically and becomes a low-temperature, low-pressure gas. This gas C is first guided to the low temperature side of the regenerative heat exchanger 10 along the low pressure line 5. Here, after exchanging heat with the relatively high-temperature gas C containing the mixed components coming out of the separation chamber 8 and increasing the temperature, it heads to the separation chamber 8. The interior of the separation chamber 8 is partitioned into two channels by a functional membrane 7, and a low pressure is applied so that the gas C can be introduced into one channel and the mixed solution A can be introduced into the other channel. The system path 5 and the solution flow path 1 are connected. Then, the gas C and mixed solution A flowing through both channels 5.1 are transferred to the functional membrane 7 as described above.
It is configured so that it can be indirectly contacted via. In addition, the functional membrane 7 has selective permselectivity only for mixed components. For example, if a is alcohol and b is water,
The functional film 7 may be a chitin film, an alginic acid film, or a polymer film made from polyvinyl chloride or the like. In particular, some polymer membranes made from polyvinyl chloride exhibit a high level of pervaporation ability capable of concentrating the alcohol concentration to 80%, and are preferably used to separate such mixture A. Can be done. It is made by reacting a chemical compound synthesized from the amino acid sarcosine, carbon dioxide, and sodium hydroxide with polyvinyl chloride.

Then, in this separation chamber 8, the mixed components from the functional membrane 7 permeate and vaporize from the solution flow path 1 side to the low-pressure system path 5 side, so that the gas C entrains the vapor of this mixed component, as described above. into the high temperature side of the regenerative heat exchanger 1o. Here, the gas C is cooled to a temperature below its condensation temperature along with the mixture components by the low temperature gas C from the turbine 3. As a result, the mixed components are liquefied, introduced into the next arranged mixed component extraction means 9, and removed there. This extraction means 9 extracts gas C
It is composed of a separator 9a that separates the mixed components from the water, a pump 9b that sucks out the separated mixed components, and an extraction line 9C that discharges the sucked mixed components to the outside.

In this way, the gas C that contributed to the solution separation is introduced into the compressor 4 and adiabatically expanded, and is further connected to the next stage, the compressor 1 whose driving source is the motor 11a.
After being pressurized to atmospheric pressure at step 1, it is released into the atmosphere. On the other hand, from the separation chamber 8, a solution with an extremely high concentration of the main component a from which the mixed components have been removed is obtained.

However, with such a configuration, the turbine 3
Since adiabatic expansion can efficiently perform cooling and depressurization at the same time, it is possible to compare the low-pressure state required for pervaporation with the low-temperature state required for condensation of the mixed components without enlarging the system. can be easily obtained.

When the mixed components are effectively separated in this manner, the amount of steam flowing into the compressor 4 becomes extremely small, so that the compression capacity of the compressor 4 is hardly adversely affected. Furthermore, by connecting the low-pressure line 5 from the turbine 3 to the compressor 4, air is always supplied to the compressor 4.
It is essentially impossible for the inside of the compressor 4 to become more diluted than necessary and to idle. Further, by utilizing adiabatic compression by the compressor 4.11, the temperature and pressure of the gas C can be increased without providing a separate heating means, thereby making it possible to easily release the gas C into the atmosphere. Moreover, since the turbine 3 and the compressor 4 are uniaxially connected by the shaft 2, the power generated by the turbine 3 is transmitted to the compressor 4 via the shaft 2 and used as energy during adiabatic compression. Therefore, with this configuration, there is no need to separately provide a cooling device and a heating device, and system efficiency is significantly improved.

As described above, this solution separation device can utilize the functions of the pressure regulating mechanism 6, which is composed of the turbine controller 3, the compressor 4, and the low pressure line 5, to the maximum extent possible in each part, so that energy can be The consumption is low and the efficiency of the system is greatly improved compared to the conventional system, and as a result, the pervaporation capacity can be improved without increasing the size of the equipment. Moreover, this also makes it possible to easily perform mass processing.

Note that the turbine 3 and the compressor 4 may be configured in multiple stages, and a recondensing section 12 as shown in FIG. 2 may be added between the compressor 4 and the compressor 11 as necessary. Furthermore, the selectively permeable membrane may of course be one that allows one or more types of components to permeate out of many types of components. In addition, the configuration of each part is not limited to the illustrated embodiment, such as providing flow paths in the separation chamber so as to provide counterflow, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[Effects of the Invention] With the above configuration, the present invention can provide a solution separation device that improves system efficiency and improves pervaporation ability without increasing the size of the device.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention;
The figure is a partial system configuration diagram showing another embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a system configuration diagram showing a conventional device. 1...Solution distribution path 2...Shaft 3...
Turbine 4... Compressor 5... Low pressure line 6... Pressure adjustment mechanism 7... Functional membrane
8... Separation chamber 9... Mixed component extraction means

Claims (1)

[Claims] A solution distribution line through which a mixed solution of the main component and the mixed component flows, a turbine and a compressor are uniaxially connected by a shaft, and gas adiabatically expanded by the turbine is introduced into the compressor via a low pressure line. a pressure reduction mechanism; a functional membrane that can selectively permeate only the mixed components without permeating the main components of the mixed solution; and a mixed solution that flows through the solution flow path through the functional membrane; A separation chamber configured to allow indirect contact with the gas flowing through the low-pressure system, and a mixed component extracting means disposed in the low-pressure system on the downstream side of the separation chamber. A solution separation device characterized by: