The Coalescence-Separation Experiment Study Of The Sulfuric Acid-in-Isooctane Emulsion In The Alkylation Processes

In the alkylation processes, the separation of acid and hydrocarbon is an important process, which obtains the alkylate. The traditional separation process are divided into settlement separation and fine separation(such as acid cleaning and alkaline cleaning), and has exposed its shortcomings. Because of its special characteristics, fiber coalescence technology has been gradually applied in the separation process of the acid-in-hydrocarbon emulsion. In this article, In relation to the separation of acid and hydrocarbon when the ratio of acid to hydrocarbon is about 1:1, fibrous filler are used to study the relationship between flow velocity and acid concentration of the hydrocarbon phase, hydrocarbon concentration of the acid phase or pressure drop under different fiber packing conditions. The experiment could reach the following conclusions:the acid concentration of the hydrocarbon phase and the hydrocarbon concentration of the acid phase increase with the rising of the flow velocity, and decline with the decreasing of the bed porosity and fiber diameter. The pressure drop increase with the rising of the flow velocity and decreasing of the bed porosity and fiber diameter.Then in relation to the separation of sulfuric acid-in-isooctane emulsion when the acid concentration is below 1000 mg/L, the filter cartridges are used to study the influence of the flow conditions, bed properties and L/D on the separation efficiency. The experiment could acquire the following conclusions:the separation efficiency increase with the rising of the influent acid concentration and decline with the rising of the flow velocity. The separation efficiency increase with the rising of the thickness of knitted fabric δ0 and PTFE fibre δ1, and the best thickness δ0 and δ1 value are about 7 mm and 20 mm, respectively; the best structure is sandwich configuration. The coalescence separation effect shows an obvious increase as the L/D rises gradually, and the best L/D is about 7; Meanwhile, increasing the thickness of metal knitted fabric could decline the best L/D value, and the best thickness is about 7 mm.