Axial Dispersion and Mass Transfer of a Pulsed Solvent Extraction Column with Novel Ceramic Internals

Two types of novel anticorrosive ceramic internals, the hybrid ceramic internal and ceramic plate, "are designed and tested under pilot conditions for future industrial application in lithium extraction from salt lake' rine. A standard liquid-liquid system with medium interfacial tension, 30% TBP in Shellsol 2046 water with acetic acid as solute, is used to test axial dispersion and mass-transfer parameters, which are important to determine height of extraction colutnns, over a range of operating conditions. Results show that the hybrid ceramic internal has 50% lower axial dispersion coefficient and 50% higher mass-transfer coefficient, both contributing to better mass-transfer performance. Under proper operating conditions, the height of the transfer unit of the hybrid ceramic internal can reach as low as approximately 0.2 m, which shows very good efficiency arid makes it promising for application in the near future.