SUMMARY The main objective of the experiment is to study the extraction of potassium bicarbonate (soluble components) which is coated

on ceramic balls ( the solid). The extraction of potassium bicarbonate is carried out in a 3-stage Rotocell type extractor using water. The pure solvent (water) is first supplied to a nozzle from a tank using a feed pump in a continuous 3-stage mode. When the enriched solvent passed through the third stage, the solvent is collected in the extract tank. The solvent and extraction material travel in counter-current flow, with the depleted extraction residue dropping into a tank after one rotation of the extractor. Firstly, the experiment is carried out by weighing the weight of the balls and the coated potassium bicarbonate which are divided into equal halves. The first half of the coated ceramic balls is divided into three segments and filled up in the extractor. The other half is divided into 6 equal portions and weighed. Each of the six equal portions was further divided into 3 to make sure an equal number of ceramic balls were added into the Rotocell extractor. The mass balance was used to determine the weight of the ceramic balls. The solvent tank is filled up with 7 liter of water. The temperature and pump controllers are set at given values. The conductivity of solvent 1 is recorded. Solvent pump 1 is switched on and for every 15 minutes interval, the extractor is filled up with the remaining balls until all of them are used up. The conductivity of solvent tank 2 is recorded, once the solvent tank 1 is empty. Again ,the conductivity of solvent tank 3 is recorded , once the solvent tank 2 is empty. Finally ,when the solvent tank 3 is almost empty, the conductivity of product tank is recorded and the volume of the tank is measured.

The observed trend was : The conductivity of each successive solvent tank increased, when the extraction of Potassium Bicarbonate from the ceramic balls into the solution increases. This can be observed clearly from the graph on the next page which is marked as Figure 1.

RESULTS TABLE 1 Solvent flow rate 10 L/h Conductivity (s)

Conductivity (s) (KCHO3 basis i.e conductivity initial conductivity of tank 1 )

Solvent tank 1 1 Solvent tank 2 499 Solvent tank 3 575 Product tank 695 *Conductivity of the initial feed in tank 1 is set as reference. Volume of product tank water : 5450 ml Writing up : 12)

498 574 694

Conductivity (s)
800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Solvent tank 1 Solvent tank 2 Solvent tank 3 Solvent tank 4 Conductivity (s)

Figure 1 : Conductivity (s) versus solvent tank 1 ,2 ,3 and 4.

13) Initial mass fraction of potassium bicarbonate in the ceramic balls : 0.657 wt% 14) Mass fraction of potassium bicarbonate in the final extract stream : 0.0466 wt% 15) Ways to improve the yield of the final extract is elaborated in the DISCUSSION.

DISCUSSION Solid liquid extraction is a type of leaching which involves the removal of a soluble material through dissolution in a dissolving solvent. (1) The differences in conductivity of the pure water and the water which contains dissolved impurities gives the extent of reaction. The conductivity of solvent tank 1 containing pure water was measured at 1 s, and then the conductivity of the remaining tanks was measured respectively in order for the extraction process to be measured. Figure 1 is not a linear graph because the ceramic balls were not distributed into the tank at a constant rate which does not allow the water to be evenly distributed over them. The extraction process is said to be reaching its limit, when there is no more potassium bicarbonate being extracted into the water. The initial and final mass fractions are obtained by performing a series of calculations to get the required results using the conductivity of solutions. There were a few minor discrepancies such as human errors in handling the stop watch, the parallax error in reading the exact volume of the product tank. The heat pump of solvent tank 1 was not functioning properly and this may have made the final result to be not quite accurate. The results would have been more accurate if the solvent tanks were completely empty, when taking down the conductivity reading for the respective tank as there was always some solution left in each of the tank as this can alter the experimental values for conductivity. This leads to a reduction in the volume of water collected at the end of the experiment which is 5450 ml given the initial amount of water used is 7000ml.

The yield of the final extraction can be improved by altering certain extraction conditions. The extraction rate is affected by surface area of ceramic balls. A larger surface area is provided for the solvent by reducing the size of ceramic balls. This will enable an increase in the rate of diffusion of solute into solvent. Agitation will further increase the rate of

diffusion of potassium bicarbonate from the ceramic balls into the solvent. An increase in temperature will also help the extraction rate to proceed at a faster rate as it decreases the viscosity of solvent which improves the extraction of potassium bicarbonate into the solution. Pure solvent can be introduced for each stage of extraction process as it increases the rate of extraction of potassium bicarbonate rather than using back the same recycled solvent for each stage. A higher number of stages will increase the overall efficiency of extraction. Higher concentration of potassium bicarbonate provides more potassium bicarbonate molecules per volume. Thus ,it increases the rate of mass transfer.

CONCLUSION The main aim of the experiment is achieved successfully , provided the minor discrepancies are ignored. The initial mass fraction of potassium bicarbonate in the ceramic balls is 0.657wt %. The final mass fraction of potassium bicarbonate in the ceramic balls is 0.0466 wt %. The yield of the final extraction can be improved by increasing the surface area of ceramic balls, agitation ,increasing number of stages in extraction ,concentration of potassium bicarbonate and also the temperature for the extraction process being carried out ( operating temperature).

REFERENCE
(1)

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What is solid liquid extraction Lab Manual Richardson, J.F. et al (2002) Coulson & Richardsons Chemical Engineering Volume 2 Fifth Edition Particle Technology and Separation Processes. Great Britain, Butterworth-Heinemann. Separation Process Notes by Dr. Gan Su Yin

APENDIX Sample calculations

13) Initial mass fraction of the Potassium Bicarbonate in the ceramic balls

Mass of potassium bicarbonate coated ceramic balls : 1522g Mass of pure ceramic balls Mass of potassium bicarbonate Initial mass fraction = ( 100/1522) = 0.657 wt % 14) Mass fraction of Potassium Bicarbonate in the ceramic balls in the Final Extract Stream. Refer to the graph in the Appendix (1) in the lab manual which is the Conductivity versus the Molarity of Potassium Bicarbonate. : 1512g : 1522 -1512 =100g

Given graph is linear till Molarity = 0.06 Using the equation of graph ,y =mx + C Gradient of graph =( 9000 -2000) / (0.06 -0.013) = 148936.1702 Therefore ,equation of graph : y = 148936.1702x Using the results obtained for the final extract , When y = 694 s , therefore x= 4.66 X 10-3 which is the concentration.

No. of moles = Concentration X Volume = 4.66 X 10-3 X 5.450L = 0.0254 moles No. of moles = Mass / Molar mass Molar weight of Potassium Bicarbonate = 100.115 g/mol Mass of Potassium Bicarbonate = 0.0254 X 100.115 = 2.54 kg Assumption made : The solution in product tank has the same density to that of water which is 1000 kg/L Mass of solution = 5.45 X 1000 =5450 kg Mass fraction of potassium bicarbonate in the Ceramic Balls in the Final Extract Stream = 2.54 /5450 =0.0466 wt%

Appendix 1 Initial mass of potassium bicarbonate coated ceramic balls 1 st portion of ceramic balls 2 nd portion of ceramic balls 3 rd portion of ceramic balls 4th portion of ceramic balls 5th portion of ceramic balls 6th portion of ceramic balls 1522g 127g 128g 127g 129g 128g 127g

Experiment : Solid-Liquid Extraction of Potassium Bicarbonate coated Ceramic Balls ( SLE )

Group number

Name Group members

Date of experiment Date of handling - in

20 Kuknesvary Puniamurthy (007973) 1)Lim Chew Shean 2)Foong Hua Yeang Anthony 3)Lohashenpahan Shanmuganathan 4)Loh Xuejing 31.10.2011 07.11.2011