Continuous multicomponent focusing in a magnetically stabilized fluidized bed
AssigneeThe Board of Regents acting for and on behalf of the University of Michigan
InventorsMark A. Burns, Lisa L. Evans
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Abstract
A device, and process, for continuously separating dissolved solutes and suspended particles from a multicomponent fluid phase in a magnetically stabilized fluidized bed (MSFB). The process is of the type wherein a solid resin and a liquid buffer move countercurrent to each other in the bed. In steady state operation, a time invariant pH gradient will form in the bed and remain spatially fixed. Other condition variables, such as temperature, can be used to form a time invariant gradient provided that equilibrium partition between the solid and liquid phases is a function of the condition variable.
Claims12
A process for separating at least one component of a multicomponent feedstream on a magnetically stabilized fluidized bed, the process comprising the steps of:
- a. providing in a column having a predetermined length, a bed of magnetizable adsorbent solids for which the at least one component of the multicomponent feed stream has an affinity, the magnetizable adsorbent solids comprising a solid phase within the column which travels countercurrently to a flow of a fluid through a fluidizing medium in a predetermined flow portion of the column, the column having a first location where the multicomponent feed stream is introduced into the column, and a second location, distal from the first location, where the magnetizable adsorbent solids are introduced into the column, the predetermined flow portion of the column being disposed intermediate of the first and second locations of the column;
- b. stabilizing the bed by a magnetic means of sufficient strength to suppress solids backmixing and to preserve staging therein;
- c. introducing the multicomponent feedstream into the column with the fluidizing medium at the first location on the column;
- d. introducing the magnetizable adsorbent solids into the column with the fluidizing medium at the second location on the column;
- e. providing a gradient of a process condition of the type which affects the affinity of the at least one component to the adsorbent solids, the gradient of a process condition being maintained in a time-invariant fixed spatial relationship over the length of the predetermined flow portion of the column during operation thereby resulting in concentration of the at least one component at a predeterminable fixed component concentration location along the predetermined flow portion of the column corresponding substantially to the point of separation in the vicinity wherein a change in the binding affinity of the solute for the adsorbent solids occurs;
- and
- f. removing the concentrated component from the column at the predeterminable fixed component concentration location.
A process for separating at least one component of a multi-component feedstream on a magnetically stabilized fluidized bed, the process comprising the steps of:
- a. providing within a predetermined portion of a column a fluidized bed of adsorbent solids for which the at least one component has an affinity, the adsorbent solids having magnetizable components and comprising a solid phase in a slurry having a first pH within the column, the solid phase traveling within the predetermined portion of the column countercurrently to a flow through the predetermined portion of the column of a fluidizing medium which has a second pH, the first pH and the second pH being different from one another;
- b. stabilizing the fluidized bed by a magnetic means of sufficient strength to suppress backmixing of the adsorbent solids and to preserve staging the rein;
- c. introducing the multicomponent feedstream into the column with the fluidizing medium;
- d. forming a pH gradient in the predetermined portion of the column which remains in a time-invariant, fixed spatial relationship over the length of the predetermined portion of the column during operation, such that the at least one component concentrates at a fixed location along the predetermined portion of the column corresponding substantially to the vicinity in the predetermined portion of the column where the pH in the gradient is equal to the isoelectric point of the at least one component;
- and
- separating the at least one component from the column at the fixed location along the predetermined portion of the column.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.