Micromixing for high throughput microfluidic refining
AssigneeChemtor, LP
InventorRana MOHAMED
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present disclosure relates to the design of structural features that enable the facile and reproducible fabrication of a microfluidic reactor that eliminates the problem of scaling factors in turn enabling the broad integration of microchannel reactors to industrial scale production. The process is highlighted via the effective and successful scale up of a purification process for the removal of a variety of different classes of impurities from crude vegetable oils mixtures into feedstocks that can be directly integrated into the hydrotreatment vegetable oil hydrogenation process for mass production of synthetic diesel derived from renewable sources.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- a conduit having a hollow interior, a first end, and a second end opposite the first end;
- an array of fibers disposed within the conduit;
- a feedstock oil vessel comprising a feedstock oil and configured to introduce the feedstock oil into the conduit proximate the first end at a first rate, wherein the feedstock oil comprises an impurity;
- and
- an aqueous vessel comprising an aqueous solution and configured to introduce the aqueous solution into the conduit proximate the first open end at a second rate, wherein the aqueous solution is immiscible with the feedstock oil;
- wherein the fibers have a length measured along an axial direction of the conduit and the fibers form microchannels therebetween;
- wherein an L/D ratio of the length of the fibers to an average diameter of the microchannels is at least 2 mm/μm;
- and
- wherein a radial flux of the system, defined as a sum of the first rate and the second rate divided by the average microchannel diameter, is at least 0.3 mL/μm·min.
A method comprising:
- introducing
- (i) a feedstock oil comprising an impurity at a first rate and
- (ii) an aqueous solution at a second rate
- into a first end of a conduit having an array of fibers disposed therein, wherein the aqueous solution is immiscible with the feedstock oil;
- wherein the fibers form microchannels therebetween;
- reacting the feedstock oil and the aqueous solution within the microchannels such that at least a portion of the impurity is removed from the feedstock oil into the aqueous solution;
- and
- separately removing the feedstock oil having at least a portion of the impurity removed therefrom and the aqueous solution comprising the at least a portion of the impurity from a second end of the conduit opposite the first end;
- wherein the fibers have a length measured along an axial direction of the conduit and an L/D ratio of the length of the fibers to an average diameter of the microchannels is at least 2 mm/μm;
- and
- wherein a radial flux, defined as a sum of the first rate and the second rate divided by the average microchannel diameter, is at least 0.3 mL/μm·min.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.