Liquid-liquid extraction performance in a miniaturized magnetic extractor

Miniaturization of extractors is an increasingly significant topic in chemical process intensification. Herein, a miniaturized magnetic extractor (MME) is developed by combining the micro-scale effect and the rotating flow field, and the extraction performance is characterized by a working system of water / succinic acid / n-butanol. The effects of various operational conditions are investigated. Three distinct liquid-liquid dispersion states are observed, which are closely related to the extraction performance. The MME has high capacity, superior extraction performance and high energy efficiency at relatively higher viscosity (up to 20.19 mPa center dot s) and higher phase ratio (up to 10) by arranging the stirred units in series. Equivalent specific energy dissipation e combined with the micro-scale effect is proposed as a scaling-up criterion and prediction models are established. Much better extraction performance (0.94 s(-1) < volumetric mass transfer coefficient < 5.0 s(-1)) with lower energy consumption (2.8 W/kg < epsilon < 12.7 W/kg) is obtained in the MME, compared with various extractors.