Chapter 5:

solid-liquid
extraction
(leaching)

MISS. RAHIMAH BINTI OTHMAN

(Email: rahimah@unimap.edu.my)

COURSE OUTCOMES
CO
APPLY principles of leaching.
ANALYZE leaching equipments.
CALCULATE material balance
and number of ideal stages for
multistage leaching.

OUTLINES
Introduction to leaching.
Leaching equipments.
Principles of Continuous
Countercurrent Leaching.
How to CALCULATE
material balance and
number of ideal stages for
multistage leaching.

INTRODUCTION TO LEACHING

Leaching / solid extraction methods of

removing one constituent from a solid by
means of a liquid solvent.
Examples:
1. Making coffee from ground coffee beans
and tea from tea leaves.
(The complex mixture of chemicals that give coffee
and tea their odor, taste, and physiological effects
are leached from the solid by hot water)

2. Extraction of oil from soybean flakes

3. Extraction of coconut milk from coconut

The amount of soluble material removed is

often greater than in ordinary filtration
washing.
The coarse, hard or granular feed solids may
disintegrate in pulp or mush when their
content of soluble material is removed.

LEACHING
EQUIPMENTS
Stationary Solid
Beds
Moving-bed
Leaching
Dispersed-solid
Leaching
DESIRED OUTPUT

LEACHING
EQUIPMENTS
Stationary Solid
Beds
Moving-bed
Leaching
Dispersed-solid
Leaching
DESIRED YIELD

STATIONARY SOLID BEDS

It is done in a tank with a perforated false bottom to support the
solids and permit drainage of the solvent.
Solids are loaded into the tank, sprayed with solvent until their solute
content is reduced to the economical minimum.
In some cases the rate of solution is so rapid that one passage of
solvent through the material is sufficient, but countercurrent flow of
the battery of tanks are more common.
A series of tank is called as extraction battery. [The solid in any
one tank is stationary until it is completely extracted]
Shanks process other tanks in the battery are kept in
countercurrent operation by advancing the inlet and draw off tanks
one at a time as the material is charged and removed.
Diffusion battery A series of such pressure tanks operated in
countercurrent solvent flow.

LEACHING
EQUIPMENTS
Stationary Solid
Beds
Moving-bed
Leaching
Dispersed-solid
Leaching
DESIRED YIELD

Bollman
Extractor

MOVINGBED
LEACHING
Rotocel
Extractor

BOLLMAN EXTRACTOR

Contains a bucket elevator in a closed casing.

The buckets are loaded with flaky solids such as

soybeans.

The solids are sprayed with appropriate amount of

half miscella as they travel downward.

Half miscella is the intermediate solvent containing

some extracted oil and some small solid particles.

As solids and solvent flow concurrently down the

right-hand side of the machine, the solvent
extracts more oil from the beans.

Fig. 23.1 (a) Bollman extractor

Bollman
Extractor

MOVINGBED
LEACHING
Rotocel
Extractor

ROTOCEL EXTRACTOR

A horizontal basket is divided into walled

compartments with a floor that is permeable to the
liquid.

The basket rotates slowly about a vertical axis.

Solid are admitted to each compartment at feed

point.

The compartments then pass a number of solvent

sprays, a drainage section and a discharge point.

To give countercurrent extraction, the fresh solvent

is fed only to the last compartment before the
discharge point.

PRINCIPLE OF CONTINUOUS
COUNTERCURRENT LEACHING

The most important method of leaching is

the continuous countercurrent method suing
stages.

The solid is not moved physically from

stage to stage.

The liquids is being moved from stage to

stage.

PRINCIPLES OF CONTINUOUS
COUNTERCURRENT LEACHING
Ideal Stages In Countercurrent Leaching
Equilibrium
Operating Line
Constant And Variable Underflow
Number of ideal stages for constant
underflow
Number of ideal stages for variable
underflow

IDEAL STAGES IN COUNTERCURRENT LEACHING

V phase = the liquid phase (from stage N to stage 1)

L phase = the liquid carried with the solid (from stage 1 to stage N)

Exhausted solids leave Stage N

Concentrated solution overflow from Stage 1

EQUILIBRIUM

Equilibrium is attained when the solute is

completely dissolved and the concentration of the
solution so formed is uniform.

The concentration of the liquid retained by the

solid leaving any stage is the same as that of the
liquid overflow from the same stage.

The equilibrium relationship is simply xe = y.

OPERATING LINE
Total solution:
Solute:

Operating line equation:

As usual, the operating line passes through the points (xa, ya) and
(xb, yb), and if the flow rates are constant, the slope is L/V.

CONSTANT AND VARIABLE

UNDERFLOW

Two cases are to be considered.

If the density and viscosity of the solution change

considerably with solute concentration, the solids from the
lower-numbered stages may retain more liquid than those
from the higher-numbered stages.

As shown in Eq. 23.3, the slope of the operating line varies

from unit to unit.

If the mass of solution retained by the solid is independent

of concentration, then Ln is constant and the operating line
is straight. called as constant solution underflow.

If the underflow is constant, so is the overflow.

Constant underflow and variable underflow are given

separate consideration.

NUMBER OF IDEAL STAGES FOR

CONSTANT UNDERFLOW

Use McCabe Thiele Method if the operating

line is straight

In leaching, the operating line is always

straight

The equilibrium line is on 450 line.

NUMBER OF IDEAL STAGES

FOR VARIABLE UNDERFLOW

When the underflow and overflow vary from stage to

stage, a modification of the McCabe Thiele graphical
method may be used for calculation.

The terminal point on the operating line are

determined using material balances.

Will be discussed later.

QUESTION 1
EXAMPLE 23.1.
Oil is to be extracted from meal by means of benzene using
a continuous countercurrent extractor. The unit is to treat
1,000 kg of meal (based on completely exhausted solid) per
hour. The untreated meal contains 400 kg of oil and is
contaminated with 25kg of benzene. The fresh solvent
mixture contains 10kg of oil and 655 kg of benzene. The
exhausted solids are to contain 60kg of unextracted oil.
Experiments carried out under conditions identical with those
of the projected battery show that the solution retained
depends on the concentration of the solution, as shown in
Table 23.1.

Find:
(a) the concentration of the strong solution, or extract;
(b) the concentration of the solution adhering to the extracted solids;
(c) the mass of solution leaving with the extracted meal;
(d) the mass of extract;
(e) the number of stages required.
All quantities are given on an hourly basis.

Solution
Let x and y be the mass fractions of oil in the underflow and
overflow solutions. At the solvent inlet,

Determine the amount and composition of the solution in the spent

solids by trial. If Xb = 0.1, the solution retained, from Table 23.1,
is 0.505 kg/kg. Then;

From Table 23.1, the solution retained is 0.507 kg/kg:

Benzene in the underflow at Lb is 507 - 60 = 447 kg/h.

At the solid inlet,

e) Determine the inlet and exit concentrations for the first stage and
locate the operating line for the remaining stages.
Since x1 = ya = 0.60, solution retained is 0.595 kg/kg solid.

Overall material balance:

Oil balance:

The point x1 = 0.60, y2 = 0.408 is at one end of the operating line

for the remaining stages.

To determine an intermediate point on the operating line, choose

xn = 0.30.

By an overall balance,

An oil balance gives

The points xn , xn+1 , xa , ya and xb , yb define a slightly curved

operating line, as shown in Fig. 23.3.

Four ideal stages are required.

QUESTION 2
EXCERCISE1 (LEACHING)
We wish to treat 1000 kg/hr (wet basis) of meal (D)
that contains 0.20 wt frac oil (A) and no benzene (S).
The inlet solvent is pure benzene and flows at
662 kg/hr. We desire an underflow product that is
0.04 wt frac oil. Temperature and pressure are
constant, and the equilibrium data are given in Table
1. Find the outlet extract concentration and the
number of equilibrium stages needed in a
countercurrent leaching system.

TABLE 1: Test Data For Extraction Of Oil From Meal With Benzene

Mass Fraction Oil

(Solute) in
Solution
yA
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7

Mass Fraction Underflow

(Rafffinate)
xA
0
0.0336
0.0682
0.1039
0.1419
0.1817
0.224
0.268

xD
0.67
0.664
0.66
0.6541
0.6541
0.6366
0.6268
0.6172

xS
0.333
0.304
0.272
0.242
0.213
0.1817
0.1492
0.1148

QUESTION 2
EXCERCISE1 (LEACHING)
* Keywords (Answer):
The calculation procedure for countercurrent
leaching operations is exactly the same as for
LLE.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Plot the equilibrium data.

Plot the locations of known points.
Find mixing point, M.
Locate EN.
Find the point.
Step off stages.

ASSIGNMENT 1
QUESTION: EXERCISE 1
DATELINE: MONDAY
14 FEBRUARY 2011

(BEFORE 5 PM)

TUTORIAL 2
QUESTIONS: 23.1, 23.2
Reference Book;
McCabe et al. 2004 Unit Operations Of Chemical
Engineering

THANK YOU