Lecture

Liquid-Liquid Extraction: Principles and Applications

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In course

ChE-310: Fundamentals of separation processes

The course will cover fundamentals concepts of separation processes involving chemical equilibrium and mass transfer. Students will design separation processes widely used in the industry, for the separation of liquid mixtures, gas-liquid mixtures, and gas ...

Description

This lecture introduces the concept of liquid-liquid extraction as a separation process distinct from distillation. The instructor explains the fundamentals of this two-phase system, where a solute is transferred from one liquid to another. Key learning outcomes include comparing liquid-liquid extraction with distillation, calculating the number of stages required for extraction, and analyzing different flow configurations such as countercurrent and cross-current. The lecture emphasizes the importance of selecting an ideal solvent, which should possess high solubility for the solute, be immiscible with the diluent, and meet various stability and environmental criteria. The instructor discusses industrial applications of liquid-liquid extraction in sectors like petroleum, pharmaceuticals, and metals. The Gibbs phase rule is introduced to understand the degrees of freedom in the system, and the lecture covers mass transfer principles in continuous steady-state operations. The instructor also presents graphical methods for determining operating lines and equilibrium relationships, culminating in exercises to reinforce the concepts discussed.

Instructor

Kumar Varoon Agrawal

Expertise Prof. Kumar Varoon Agrawal leads research at EPFL on advanced membrane materials and processes for energy-efficient molecular separations. His work focuses on atomically thin porous graphene film, and two-dimensional zeolite & metal–organic framework membranes that enable selective transport of gases and ions, with applications in carbon capture, hydrogen purification, ammonia separation, and resource recovery. By combining materials chemistry, nanofluidics, transport phenomena, atomistic simulati

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Condensed matter physics: Phase transitions

Related concepts (31)

Heavy metals

Heavy metals are generally defined as metals with relatively high densities, atomic weights, or atomic numbers. The criteria used, and whether metalloids are included, vary depending on the author and context. In metallurgy, for example, a heavy metal may be defined on the basis of density, whereas in physics the distinguishing criterion might be atomic number, while a chemist would likely be more concerned with chemical behaviour. More specific definitions have been published, none of which have been widely accepted.

Metal

A metal (from Ancient Greek μέταλλον métallon 'mine, quarry, metal') is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typically ductile (can be drawn into wires) and malleable (they can be hammered into thin sheets). These properties are the result of the metallic bond between the atoms or molecules of the metal. A metal may be a chemical element such as iron; an alloy such as stainless steel; or a molecular compound such as polymeric sulfur nitride.

Protic solvent

In chemistry, a protic solvent is a solvent that has a hydrogen atom bound to an oxygen (as in a hydroxyl group ), a nitrogen (as in an amine group or ), or fluoride (as in hydrogen fluoride). In general terms, any solvent that contains a labile is called a protic solvent. The molecules of such solvents readily donate protons () to solutes, often via hydrogen bonding. Water is the most common protic solvent. Conversely, polar aprotic solvents cannot donate protons but still have the ability to dissolve many salts.

Polar aprotic solvent

A polar aprotic solvent is a solvent that lacks an acidic proton and is polar. Such solvents lack hydroxyl and amine groups. In contrast to protic solvents, these solvents do not serve as proton donors in hydrogen bonding, although they can be proton acceptors. Many solvents, including chlorocarbons and hydrocarbons, are classifiable as aprotic, but polar aprotic solvents are of particular interest for their ability to dissolve salts. Methods for purification of common solvents are available.

Coinage metals

The coinage metals comprise, at a minimum, those metallic chemical elements which have historically been used as components in alloys used to mint coins. The term is not perfectly defined, however, since a number of metals have been used to make "demonstration coins" which have never been used to make monetized coins for any nation-state, but could be. Some of these elements would make excellent coins in theory (for example, zirconium), but their status as coin metals is not clear.

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