Separation of fish oils ethyl esters by means of supercritical carbon dioxide: Thermodynamic analysis and process modelling

A semicontinuous fractionation process of fish oil ethyl esters was carried out in this work by means of supercritical carbon dioxide. The process focused on the separation of ethyl esters on chain length basis. Experimental temperature ranged from 42 to 70 degrees C, whereas pressure ranged from 10.1 to 17.2 MPa. Optimal operating conditions were found for solvent density in the range 570-595 kg/m(3). A thermodynamic model based on the Peng-Robinson equation of state, proposed to represent high-pressure phase equilibria for this complex system, was validated on the experimental data. The model assumes that the multicomponent natural mixture can be considered as composed of five major components, defined on chain length basis. The proposed thermodynamic model was then used in the modellization of a continuous multistage fractionation process. The continuous process simulations that were carried out allowed to investigate the effect of number of theoretical stages, reflux ratio and solvent to feed ratio on the distribution of the components between extract and raffinate. A case study was considered, in order to find out process operating conditions to attain 95% by weight of heavy components (acid chain length 20 and 22) in the raffinate together with a 95% recovery. Results show that the stated separation is possible with a solvent to feed ratio and a number of theoretical stages in the range 90-150 and 11-30, respectively. The simulations were also employed to study the effect of the operating conditions of the separator used for solvent recycling. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.