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Low-Energy Separation of Azeotropes by Gel
Absorption--Foster-Miller, Inc., 195 Bear Hill Road,
Waltham, MA 02451-1196; 781-684-4239
Dr. Thomas H. E.
Mendum, Principal Investigator
Mr. Adi Guzdar,
Business Official
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-00ER83012
Amount: $99,992
Distillation is an inherently energy intensive
separation process that accounts for a large fraction of the energy consumed in
the chemical process industries (CPI).
Energy consumption is particularly high for processing azeotropes and
close-boiling organic mixtures. The
objective of this program is to augment a distillation process with a gel-based
system that preferentially absorbs and, when triggered, releases one component
of the azeotrope. Preliminary data has
been obtained which demonstrates proof-of-principle. The Phase I project involves identifying a candidate azeotrope of
commercial significance for testing, identifying the gel parameters for
azeotrope separation, synthesizing and testing the candidate gels on the
selected azeotrope, and comparing the costs of this hybrid gel-based system
with current processes.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Approximately 4,000 distillation columns in
the United States are used for azeotropic separation. The gel-based system can be used to reduce the energy consumption
by approximately 55 percent over that for conventional azeotropic distillation.