Pilot plants
Packing column DN450 and DN600
The pilot plant (made of PP, F factors up to 7 Pa½) consists of two columns DN450 and DN600, which can be operated mutually as saturation or measuring column. The columns themselves have a modular structure and can be equipped with random or structured packings up to a height of 2m. Conversion to tray columns is possible. The pilot plant allows exact measurements of the hydraulic properties such as pressure loss, hold-up and flooding point of packings using the air-water system under atmospheric pressure. In addition, the mass transfer properties of the packings can be determined using absorption/desorption systems.
Therefore, the following test systems can be used:
Packing column
Mobile methanation plant
In the mobile methanation plant, different carbon-containing gases (biogas, carbon dioxide (CO2) or synthesis gas) are converted in two cooled double jacket reactors with hydrogen (H2) to synthetic methane (CH4). Both tubular reactors are cooled by thermal oil (up to 320°C) and can be equipped with a wide variety of catalysts, such as bulk catalysts or structured honeycomb catalysts. Gas cooling for intermediate condensation enables the dry product gas to be analyzed after each reactor stage by a gas analyzer (type Advance Optima AO 2000). The wide operating range of the mobile methanation plant includes low to high gas hourly space velocities related to the first reactor stage (5 000 to a maximum of 55 000 h-1), different pressure levels (2 to 10 bar) and a variable hydrogen excess (0 to 10 %). In compliance with the applicable feed-in criteria with less than 10% H2 in the synthetic natural gas, the resulting product gas can be fed into a locally available gas grid or disposed of in an external flare. Process control and data logging is performed using LabVIEW software and the operator station is located in a partitioned area of the 15' container. For the operation of the mobile plant a gas supply - from pressurized gas cylinders or surrounding processes, a cooling water and a power connection (CEE) are required.
Contact Person:
Katrin Salbrechter
ILS pilot plant
With the mobile pilot plant, the ILS process for nitrogen recovery can be tested in various operating environments. We developed the ion exchanger loop stripping process (ILS) in the ReNOx-project. ILS has already been successfully tested on a municipal sewage treatment plant for ammonium recovery from effluents of mechanical sludge dewatering. As a novel hybrid process, it combines the ion exchange on natural zeolites for pre-enrichment of ammonium with a simultaneous air stripping of the (concentrated) regeneration solution.
The pilot plant consists of three ion exchange columns made of polypropylene (PP), which can each be filled with 100 kg of zeolite. The columns are charged individually or in series from bottom to top with the liquid medium to be purified, which is continuously supplied from a separate storage container. The plant is designed for a treatment capacity of 500-1000 liters of medium per hour. The pilot plant has two identical, packed stripping and scrubbing columns (PP). Stripper and scrubber are equipped with heated sumps (max. 80°C) to hold the regeneration and washing solution. In addition to several sampling options, the system is equipped with appropriate measuring and control equipment for safe operation and testing of the ILS process with different media.
The complete system is installed in a 20 'container and can therefore be transported by truck to the respective test location. For on-site operation only power and cooling water connections are required together with an operator.
Centrifugal force separator
The lab scale pilot plant centrifugal force separator is used to separate mixed waste by wet processing and recover light plastic fractions like polyolefins for recycling. The plant consists of a hydro- jig and a specifically developed prototype of a centrifugal force separator. At the beginning of the process the hydro- jig sorts out heavy impurities like metals, glass and minerals by density layering. The remaining material stream is further transferred to the centrifugal force separator which executes a sink- float separation in the centrifugal force field with water representing the separation medium. As a consequence light plastics like polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) can be separated from heavier plastics like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as well as paper, cardboard, textiles, etc.
