What is Solvent Recovery?
Organic solvents are used in chemical processes such as extraction and vacuum drying, particularly for heat-sensitive materials. Manufacturers face the challenge of low solvent recovery rates, leading to problems with energy conservation, resource use, and being environmentally friendly. Solvent recovery is a vital part of improving business profitability.
The process of solvent recovery starts when a liquid mixture has heat and/or vacuum applied to it to vaporize the solvent. The solvent vapors are then moved to a vacuum receiver or liquid ring vacuum pump. Finally, the recovered solvents move to a vacuum concentrator where they are held before being transferred to a storage tank.
Solvent recovery vacuum systems typically consist of one or two water ring vacuum pumps used for vacuum acquisition. A condensation separator is added for separation and storage to complete the system. However, vacuum pumps can use fluids other than water as processes demand. These include oil, toluene, acetic acid, and alcohol.
The complete systems can be used in negative pressure situations across a wide range of industries. They are used with systems that include vacuum dryers, batch reactors, rotary evaporators, and granulators. Valuable parts of the process mixture can then be recovered. These chemical-resistant pumps combine to extract from gasses under various vapor pressures and often difficult conditions with excellent performance.