Dynamic modelling of a fractionation process for a liquid mixture using supercritical carbon dioxide

This work presents a simple dynamic modelling of a process of separation of a quaternary mixture using supercritical CO2. Thermodynamic description is accomplished using efficient available models (SRK equation of state with MHV2 mixing rules). An approximate approach was compared to the rigorous resolution of the system of algebro-differential equations, and was shown to enable a correct description of the dynamic behaviour. The modelling was compared to experiments performed on a small pilot composed of one 200-ml contactor and a cascade of three cyclonic separators. Good results were obtained for the contactor, although they were not very satisfactory for the description of the fractionation in the cyclonic separators. Even if discrepancies between experimental and calculated results may probably originate from the experimental procedure, the hydrodynamic description of the separators here is likely to be oversimplified. The cyclonic separator cannot be regarded as a simple theoretical stage (TSM), and we have proposed an alternate description (EPSM), that, although more suitable, still needs to be improved. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.