Lab Scale High-Pressure Equipment for Supercritical Drying

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the development of high-pressure laboratory equipment for supercritical drying processes. Conducting processes under supercritical conditions requires appropriate high-pressure apparatus. High-pressure apparatus' working part design was developed on the basis of the results of supercritical carbon dioxide hydrodynamics mathematical modeling. To do this, modern computer simulation methods, based on principles of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), were used. Such methods allow to calculate velocity, pressure, physico-chemical properties fields within the apparatus at arbitrary boundary conditions. In addition, it is important to develop process flowsheets that include high-pressure vessels, high-pressure pumps, separators, intermediate tanks, complex shut-off and control valves, a set of instrumentation and automation. The developed laboratory equipment was realized and successfully commissioned. Proposed equipment can be used for studying the kinetics of the supercritical drying process. Such studies are necessary for resource and energy saving, efficiency increasing and scale up.