Pilot Plant Testing

[Hadda Condino]

TheKoch Modular pilot plant facility in Houston, TX specializes in the development and testing of mass transfer processes, including distillation, liquid-liquid extraction, stripping, and reaction chemistry. Research findings from our pilot plant are used to design full-scale separation equipment serving the Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Petrochemical, Biotech, Food, and Flavor & Fragrance industries.

With more than 5,000 square feet of floor space and 32 feet of headroom, our facility is well-equipped to facilitate both bench- and pilot-scale tests. Our ability to modify column internals and auxiliary equipment gives us the flexibility to test different configurations and quickly arrive at an optimum solution. Our in-house analytical department supports all pilot tests, providing customers with on-the-spot feedback to significantly reduce time spent in the pilot plant.

Pilot tests are performed over a range of operating conditions to measure mass transfer efficiency and determine optimum conditions. Sufficient data for scale-up is routinely generated within one week of testing for each process step. With years of experience, Koch Modular has developed proven correlations that provide accurate scale-up from pilot to commercialization.

The final product of the pilot plant test is a test report that guides Koch Modular on designing and supplying the complete commercial-scale separation equipment. With the pilot testing completed and the scale-up factors determined, Koch Modular can provide mass transfer separation equipment such as a Distillation Modular System or a Liquid-Liquid Extraction Column with a Process Performance Guarantee.

Every distillation pilot plant test involves a customized setup for each industrial application. Varying configurations are available for flashing, steam stripping, vacuum, azeotropic, multi-component and non-ideal processes. The pilot column is run over a range of operating conditions to measure separation performance and help determine the optimum operating conditions. Observations, such as operating stability, foaming, fouling, or thermal degradation, are also important for process scale-up. Some of our distillation capabilities are outlined below.

Steam stripping is a multistage distillation process in which steam is used as a stripping gas to remove hydrocarbons from wastewater. It is commonly used as a cost-effective mass transfer technique to meet EPA regulations. Many organic contaminants can be easily stripped from an aqueous stream. Because it is concentrated in the rectification section of the column, the amount sent to disposal is significantly reduced.

This style is useful for fast reactions where high throughput is essential. Reactors can range from piping loops to agitated extraction columns such as SCHEIBEL or KARR. In one application, a KARR column replaced a series of Continuous Stirred Tank Reactors (CSTRs) and provided higher yield and purity.

Homogeneous reactive distillations combine mixing and heat transfer inside a distillation column. Two-unit operations, reaction and distillation are performed in the same piece of equipment to achieve greater cost savings.

Heterogeneous reactive distillations are performed in distillation columns that have three sections. The reactor section is in the middle, with a rectifying section above and a stripping section below. To achieve greater cost savings, two-unit operations, reaction and distillation are performed in the same piece of equipment

Koch Modular can evaluate and test a number of unit operations for separation processes. In addition, these unit operations are typically evaluated for processes that include LLE or distillation steps. Koch Modular can also work with clients on a one-on-one basis for these types of processes.

Other types of processes we evaluate in our pilot plant include:

Both the KARR and SCHEIBEL columns can be used as co-current, mixer/settlers. The typical mixer/settle used industrially will only generate up to 85% of a theoretical stage due to back mixing inefficiencies. However, the co-current KARR or SCHEIBEL Column can achieve essentially 100% of a theoretical stage at extremely high capacity if it is operated in plug-flow mode.

The primary goal for most tests performed in the Koch Modular Pilot Plant is to generate the data required for successful scale-up to production equipment. Scale-up from Pilot Plant data forms the basis of our process performance guarantees. In this section, we will cover a number of recent applications where testing led to the design and implementation of production equipment. These pilot testing columns include fragrance fractionation, product recovery through fractionation, solvent recovery and other extraction techniques for mass transfers.

Koch Modular has successfully fractionated orange oil and other citrus oils to produce many commercially desirable components. Pilot tests have included batch and continuous folding and fractionation steps to recover compounds such as octanal, pinene, limonene, linalool, citronella, dodecanal, valencene, and nootkatone. These tests typically require high vacuum to limit the operating temperature.

Koch Modular has successfully recovered Biodiesel (methyl esters) from a crude Biodiesel feed stream. The process was piloted in three steps. The first step was an evaporation step that removed methanol and lights. The second step involved the removal of excess glycerin. The last step collects the Biodiesel as a distillate product. All three steps are performed under a vacuum. A commercial system was designed, built and deployed by Koch Modular. The modular system is currently in operation.

Koch Modular successfully tested the extraction of organic components including nitrated organics from an aqueous feed stream using an aromatic, organic solvent. Prior to testing, the client was using an antiquated RDC column in their production process, which left a high level of nitrated organics in the aqueous effluent. Testing in a SCHEIBEL Column demonstrated higher extraction efficiency (lower nitrated organic level in the aqueous effluent) at a reduced solvent to feed ratio. Testing also demonstrated that changing the continuous phase resulted in significantly improved process hydraulic behavior (minimized emulsion formation and entrainment losses). A production column has been designed, built, installed, and successfully started-up.

Koch Modular has successfully recovered a high-boiling partially water-soluble solvent from both phases of a decanted product. This was done in a multi-step process, but we processed both phases individually. After a wet solvent-rich stream was recovered, the water was stripped out. A commercial system was designed, built and deployed by Koch Modular. The modular system is currently in operation.

Koch Modular successfully tested the extraction of inorganic, chloride,and salts from a chlorinated organic feed stream; we used water as the solvent. A KARR Column with PTFE perforated plates was tested for this application. The tests demonstrated that over 99% removal of the inorganic salts can be achieved for solvent to feed ratios as low as 0.07 (i.e., 0.07 weight of water to 1.0 weight of organic feed).

Due to the non-ideal nature of many of the systems encountered, experimental equilibrium data is required for design. If this data is not found in the literature, it must be measured in the laboratory. Thus, it is often necessary to perform bench scale tests to fill gaps in the available data. LLE data for extraction and VLE data for distillation can be developed in our pilot facility.

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

The new facility will support the future commercialization of sCO2 Brayton cycle energy conversion systems by testing and demonstrating the potential energy efficiency and cost benefits of this technology. Today the average efficiency of the U.S. fleet of steam Rankine cycle power plants is in the lower 30 percent range. This new facility has the potential to demonstrate greater than 50 percent cycle efficiency. If successfully developed, the supercritical CO2 power cycles could provide significant efficiency gains in geothermal, coal, nuclear, and solar thermal power production.

Currently, no commercially-feasible sCO2 facility exists for high temperature and high-efficiency system testing. The 10-MWe test facility developed under the selected project will serve as an opportunity for industry and government to work together to develop and mature the sCO2 power cycles at the pilot-scale, bringing it one step closer to commercialization.

Supercritical CO2 is carbon dioxide that is above its critical temperature and pressure so that it is in a fluid state, enabling a power plant to generate the same amount of electricity from less fuel when compared to traditional steam and water (Rankine cycle) systems commonly used today. This, in turn, decreases CO2 emissions and operating costs. Furthermore, because sCO2 has a high-fluid density relative to steam, sCO2 power plants may be fitted with compact turbomachinery, which would help to reduce capital costs.

The information generated through this project has the potential to inform scale-ups for larger scale demonstrations in the future. While sCO2 technology has been proven in a lab setting, this pilot project will provide important data on potential challenges of operating it on a larger scale. It will also provide an opportunity to atest the performance of the system's components when operated on a continuous and fully integrated basis.

We are talking about the bench trials application, pilot plants and industrial ones. All these procedures are the base for safe products development and that have the expected quality by the company managers and consumer market.

3a8082e126