resumo
Aqueous biphasic systems (ABS) have been widely studied for extraction and purification processes. Although they are considered biocompatible, amenable, and sustainable separation platforms, their application on an industrial scale remains impractical without proper scaling and integration into existing processes. To better understand the hydrodynamics of ABS formation, three cholinium chloride ([Ch]Cl)-based ABS composed of polypropylene glycol with a molecular weight of 400 g.mol- 1 (PPG-400), tripotassium phosphate (K3PO4), and dipotassium hydrogen-phosphate (K2HPO4) were studied. The hydrodynamics of phase separation of ABS composed of PPG-400/[Ch]Cl, [Ch]Cl/K3PO4 and [Ch]Cl/K2HPO4 was studied by analysing the relationship between the mixing time (Tm) and the phase settling time (Ts), at 25 degrees C and 50 degrees C. The results showed that Ts is independent of Tm, which is very long for the polymer/salt systems (Ts > 6 h), while for salt/salt ABS, a very fast phase settling was observed (Ts < 150 s). The hydrodynamics of each salt/salt system was then correlated with the physicochemical properties of the coexisting phases and the nature of the phase-forming compounds. The increase in the salting-out effect of the inorganic salts, and the consequent larger differences between the compositions of the coexisting phases, improved the hydrodynamics of the [Ch]Cl-based ABS. With the increase of the tie-line lengths, the composition of the phases stabilized, resulting also in more stable physicochemical properties in each phase and constant Ts. The correlations obtained in this work allow the definition of the best operating region within the biphasic (liquid-liquid) region of [Ch]Cl/salt-based ABS as being the largest TLLs within the LLE region. The definition of these criteria and region of operation is crucial for the design and in-dustrial implementation of these types of LLE processes using conventional mixer-settler units.
palavras-chave
2-PHASE SYSTEMS; PROTEIN SEPARATION; PHASE-SEPARATION; IONIC LIQUIDS; PURIFICATION; EXTRACTION; PARTITION; GLYCOL
categoria
Engineering
autores
Jorge, AMS; Coutinho, JAP; Pereira, JFB
nossos autores
Jorge Fernando Brandão Pereira
Estudante de doutoramentoProjectos
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDP/50011/2020)
Associated Laboratory CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (LA/P/0006/2020)
agradecimentos
CIEPQPF is supported by the Fundacao para a Cie ncia e a Tecnologia (FCT) through the projects UIDB/EQU/00102/2020 and UIDP/EQU/00102/2020. This work was partly developed within the scope of the project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials, UIDB/50011/2020, UIDP/50011/2020 & amp; LA/P/0006/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MEC (PIDDAC) . J.F.B. Pereira and A. M. S. Jorge acknowledge FCT for funding the project DRI/India/0044/2020.