Simple Distillation Research Articles

Separation Process for Methanol–Methylal–Methyl Formate Multicomponent System in Polyformaldehyde Production Waste Liquid: Modeling and Techno-Economic Analysis

The vapor–liquid equilibrium (VLE) data of the ternary system methanol–methyl formate–methylal was measured at atmospheric pressure using a modified Rose equilibrium kettle with vapor–liquid double circulation method. The experiment data were correlated with the NRTL, UNIQUAC, and Wilson activity coefficient model equations. The results shown that the root mean square deviation (RMSD) between the calculated and simulated values of the three models followed the order: UNIQUAC ≈ NRTL < Wilson, and except for the RMSD (T) in the range of 0.4–0.5, the others are less than 0.01. In addition, the NRTL model was selected to link with Aspen Plus software to simulate the separation process of polyformaldehyde (POM) waste liquid. The simulation results show that the methyl formate in POM waste stream can be purified by simple distillation, while the methylal separated from the POM waste liquid, which was affected by factors like the azeotropic behavior of binary components, necessitates a complex distillation process. Under optimal operating conditions, the recovery yield of methyl formate through direct distillation can reach 99.7%, with an economic benefit of 6960.1 CNY per ton of waste liquid. Although the economic benefit of the multi-component distillation reach 7281.2 CNY, the increase in the number of equipment and the complexity of the process have negative impacts.

Enhancing Vinyl Chloride Product Yield By Optimizing Operating Conditions In Plug Flow Reactor With Al2O3 Catalyst

Vinyl chloride (VC) is a colorless stable gas produced through a complex process with many interactions in reaction and separation. This study aims to improve mass and energy efficiency in vinyl chloride production through process simulation with HYSYS V.11. The process was modified using a plugged flow reactor (PFR) with an Al2O3 catalyst and a simplified distillation column. The method involves recycling the liquid product from the distillation column back to the mixing unit as a feed. The results show that energy efficiency improves with the reduction of the reactor's heat flow requirement from 1.009×107 kJ/h, and to 4.689×106 kJ/h, and distillation of the 2.82×106 kJ/h to 1.368×106 kJ/h. Mass efficiency also increased, with vinyl chloride yields rising by 118%, from 2572 kg/h to 3045 kg/h. In conclusion, these process modifications have succeeded in reducing energy consumption and increasing production significantly, making the process more efficient and energy friendly. Further research is suggested to optimize the use of waste heat. Copyright © 2024 by Authors, Published by Universitas Diponegoro and BCREC Publishing Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).

Assessment of the Productivity of Hydrogen and Nano-Carbon Through Liquid-Plasma Cracking of Waste Organic Solvent Using PrxNiyFeO3 Perovskite Catalysts

In this study, a process for the simultaneous production of hydrogen and carbon from waste organic solvents using liquid plasma was investigated. Ferrite-based perovskites were introduced as catalysts to evaluate the productivity of hydrogen and carbon. A novel ferrite-based perovskite composite, PrxNiyFeO3, was synthesized. The waste organic solvent was converted into liquid hydrocarbons, primarily composed of toluene, through a simple distillation process. Hydrogen (>98%) and nanocarbon were produced through the liquid plasma reaction of the purified organic solvent. The ferrite-based perovskites demonstrated excellent absorption capacities for visible light. Among them, PrxNiyFeO3 exhibited the highest absorption capacities for both UV and visible light and had the smallest band gap energy (approximately 1.72 eV). In the liquid plasma decomposition of organic solvents, the ferrite-based perovskites enhanced the hydrogen production rate and carbon yield. The highest hydrogen production rate and carbon yield were achieved with the newly synthesized PrxNiyFeO3 perovskite composite. PrxNiyFeO3, which has the narrowest band gap compared to other catalysts, is highly sensitive to the strong visible light emitted from plasma and exhibits excellent catalytic activity. This catalyst also demonstrated remarkable reaction activity sustainability and the potential for recycling through regeneration.

Simplified Knowledge Distillation for Deep Neural Networks Bridging the Performance Gap with a Novel Teacher–Student Architecture

The rapid evolution of deep learning has led to significant achievements in computer vision, primarily driven by complex convolutional neural networks (CNNs). However, the increasing depth and parameter count of these networks often result in overfitting and elevated computational demands. Knowledge distillation (KD) has emerged as a promising technique to address these issues by transferring knowledge from a large, well-trained teacher model to a more compact student model. This paper introduces a novel knowledge distillation method that simplifies the distillation process and narrows the performance gap between teacher and student models without relying on intricate knowledge representations. Our approach leverages a unique teacher network architecture designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of knowledge transfer. Additionally, we introduce a streamlined teacher network architecture that transfers knowledge effectively through a simplified distillation process, enabling the student model to achieve high accuracy with reduced computational demands. Comprehensive experiments conducted on the CIFAR-10 dataset demonstrate that our proposed model achieves superior performance compared to traditional KD methods and established architectures such as ResNet and VGG networks. The proposed method not only maintains high accuracy but also significantly reduces training and validation losses. Key findings highlight the optimal hyperparameter settings (temperature T = 15.0 and smoothing factor α = 0.7), which yield the highest validation accuracy and lowest loss values. This research contributes to the theoretical and practical advancements in knowledge distillation, providing a robust framework for future applications and research in neural network compression and optimization. The simplicity and efficiency of our approach pave the way for more accessible and scalable solutions in deep learning model deployment.

Quantitative Determination of Volatile N-Nitrosamines in Meat Products Using Gas Chromatography Coupled to an Ion Mobility Spectrometer with an Ammonia Dopant.

Herein, we develop a novel method using gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) with an ammonia dopant for the determination of volatile N-nitrosamines in meat products. The IMS system was implemented with Fourier deconvolution multiplexing to simultaneously improve the resolving power and sensitivity. The ammonia dopant mitigated the formation of N-nitrosamine dimer ions, suppressing the ionization of interferents and shifting the reactant peak from hydrated protons to hydrated ammonium ions. The ammonium adduct product ions of N-nitrosamines were confirmed using time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The instrument limits of detection and quantitation for nitrosamines were 0.78-1.79 and 2.60-5.82 ng/mL, respectively, with recoveries between 71.39% and 110.59% using a simple water distillation method. The developed method showed satisfactory performance when applied to the detection of nitrosamines in various meat products.

Pelatihan Dilan (Distilasi Sederhana) sebagai Upaya Revitalisasi Program Serenisasi di Malang

Codo Village, located in Malang Regency, once held a serenization program. Local PKK women pioneered this program, whose actions were realized through a movement to plant lemongrass throughout the vacant village land to avoid the spread of dengue fever in 2016. A lack of knowledge about the potential of lemongrass plants caused a decline in enthusiasm for the serenization program, marked by many broken lemongrass plants. So, the DILAN (Simple Distillation) training provides a solution to revitalize the serenization program, starting with the formation of cadres, delivery of materials related to lemongrass plants and simple extraction of essential oils using the DILAN method, introduction to e-commerce, supervision and evaluation. The result of this program is that PKK women can produce marketable products from essential lemongrass oil, such as soap, aromatherapy candles, and carbolic acid. The products produced are codo asri and can be obtained from online sales sites. This program can increase the knowledge, productivity and abilities of the population to improve the community's economic status so that the revitalization program can be successfully implemented.

Development of Video Tutorials for Simple Distillation Tools for Making Essential Oils in Junior High Chemistry Course

This study aims to develop a video tutorial for simple distillation equipment for making essential oils that is suitable for use in junior high school chemistry courses. The research is a development research using the Design Thinking approach. The Design Thinking approach includes five steps, namely: empathic, definition, idea, prototype, and test. The instruments used in this study are student response questionnaires and validity on video tutorials for simple distillation equipment for making essential oils. The results of validation and student response to the video were analyzed using a Guttman scale and obtained a percentage of validation of the feasibility of media design 100% with a very valid category, articulation and intonation 100% with a very valid category, operation 100% with a very valid category, and suitability of material with sub-CPMK 100% with a very valid category. The percentage in the response test, namely the media display indicator 96.8% with a very good category, 100% operation with a very good category, and 98.95% usefulness with a very good category. Thus it can be concluded that the results of the analysis of video tutorial development are worth testing in the learning process.

Distillation, an effective process for water purification

Purpose. We all agree on the principle that water is life. Noting that, obtaining drinking water that meets the World Health Organization standard is a difficult and sometimes expensive process. The main objective of this research work is separation of constituents from a mixture of solution in the first instance and our tendency is water purification in the other side. Methods. Given that the purification of solutions represents a major challenge for them, based on basic knowledge of the chemistry of solutions. We have conducted some separation tests in the laboratory with the aim of eliminating harmful elements. For this reason, a comparative study was carried out on two different separation techniques in a water-ethanol solution of 10 ml. In the first one, a simple distillation test was carried out at a temperature above than 78.5 °C and at a low pressure from which only 0.6 ml of distillate (ethanol) was recovered (too low yield). However, in the second experimental protocol three assays were conducted using a distillation column with different volumes of water-ethanol mixture. The varieties of parameters and experimental protocols carried out with well-defined objectives and direct impacts on the results obtained. Results. Overall, we can say that the results obtained are clear and significant. In addition, the tests carried out made it possible to obtain satisfactory results in terms of yield and purification. Furthermore, the best results were obtained in the solution of 6 ml ethanol and 4 ml water with Distillate = 6 ml and Residue = 0 ml (maximum recovery of ethanol from the solution). This is the reason why distillation is the best technique for separation, purification and extraction from the solution mixture. Conclusions. From the assembled results we can conclude that the distillation is a one of the best separation methods commonly employed, simple distillation (with simple separation apparatus design), by principle and methodology, is applied only if the boiling points of the constituents are different, in the opposite case; fractional distillation process (devices with complex, precise and critical components) is highly recommended.

Produção de aguardente de abacaxi da Amazônia

Pineapple brandy represents an exotic fusion between the traditional Brazilian drink and the tropical flavor of pineapple. Its production involves a process of fermentation and distillation. This study explored the spirit production process on a laboratory and pilot scale, in which it is worth highlighting that no amounts of sugar were used to favor the fermentation reaction, as the brix content of the juice was 14° brix. To obtain the spirit, on a laboratory scale, a blender was used to obtain the juice, precision scales, and beakers for the fermentation process. In the simple distillation process, a distillation flask, heating blanket and a condenser were used. At the pilot scale, a mill, a reactor where fermentation took place and a copper still for distillation were used. The results of the production processes generated a drink with the characteristic appearance of traditional spirits, with an alcohol content of 45% vol/vol and an average density of 0.980969 g/ml. Therefore, its potential as a differentiated product can be seen, with possible application in the beverage market in Brazil.

СПОСОБ РАСЧЕТА ПРОСТОЙ МНОГОКОМПОНЕНТНОЙ РЕКТИФИКАЦИИ СПОСОБОМ ФЕНСКЕ-АНДЕРВУДА-ДЖИЛЛИЛЭНДА

An approach to calculating a multicomponent simple distillation column according to the Fensky-Underwood-Gilliland method is considered

A Forest Fire Smoke Monitoring System Based on a Lightweight Neural Network for Edge Devices

Forest resources are one of the indispensable resources of the earth, which are the basis for the survival and development of human society. With the swift advancements in computer vision and artificial intelligence technology, the utilization of deep learning for smoke detection has achieved remarkable results. However, the existing deep learning models have poor performance in forest scenes and are difficult to deploy because of numerous parameters. Hence, we introduce an optimized forest fire smoke monitoring system for embedded edge devices based on a lightweight deep learning model. The model makes full use of the multi-scale variable attention mechanism of Transformer architecture to strengthen the ability of image feature extraction. Considering the needs of application scenarios, we propose an improved lightweight network model LCNet for feature extraction, which can reduce the parameters and enhance detecting ability. In order to improve running speed, a simple semi-supervised label knowledge distillation scheme is used to enhance the overall detection capability. Finally, we design and implement a forest fire smoke detection system on an embedded device, including the Jetson NX hardware platform, high-definition camera, and detection software system. The lightweight model is transplanted to the embedded edge device to achieve rapid forest fire smoke detection. Also, an asynchronous processing framework is designed to make the system highly available and robust. The improved model reduces three-fourths of the parameters and increases speed by 3.4 times with similar accuracy to the original model. This demonstrates that our system meets the precision demand and detects smoke in time.

Ethyl acetate production by Fischer esterification: use of excess of acetic acid and complete separation sequence

Abstract In this work, production of ethyl acetate (EtAc) using Fischer esterification between acetic acid (AcOH) and ethyl alcohol (EtOH) is presented. Batch kinetics was developed with EtOH as the limiting reactant to avoid the problems associated with unreacted ethanol in the final product. Regression was performed to estimate the parameters of the Langmuir Hinshelwood type kinetic equation. Reaction mass obtained during kinetics was subjected to separation and purification. Molecular sieves (MS) were used to remove water. Distillation (simple and extractive distillation – with entrainer, dimethyl sulfoxide, DMSO) was used to obtain almost pure AcOH, EtOH, EtAc and DMSO. Future work in reactive separation environment is indicated. Use of EtOH as the limiting reactant, use of MS for water removal and complete separation sequence are important features of this work.

Process design and simulation of methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) dehydration by batch distillation: A study on unit configuration and operational policies

Heteroazeotropic batch distillation of methyl isobutyl ketone-water binary mixture is investigated, seeking a reliable operation for dehydration of methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK). The dynamic batch distillation module (BatchSep) of the commercial package Aspen Plus V.12.1® is applied for simulations. An initially fed unit at atmospheric pressure is simulated from the heating-up step until it reaches the desired MIBK purity of 99.8 wt%. Three configurations, namely conventional batch distillation unit (Mode I), batch distillation unit with decanter (Mode II), and a simple distillation unit (Mode III), are compared in a wide range of operating conditions. The effects of condenser temperature and the number of theoretical stages are also examined. According to the results, applying a decanter (Mode II) with a return fraction of over 0.75 for the MIBK-rich phase and below 0.4 for the aqueous phase provides higher MIBK recovery than the maximum achievable value in a conventional unit (Mode I), with almost no increase in process time. A perfect decanter offers an almost complete MIBK recovery, which is about 5% over the maximum value by conventional units (Mode I). Moreover, cutting the reflux (Mode III) offers the fastest way to the desired product but provides the lowest MIBK recovery value. The aqueous phase return fraction does not significantly impact MIBK recovery, but if it exceeds 0.5, it remarkably affects the process time/energy cost. When maximum MIBK recovery rate/minimum energy cost is desired, applying a decanter (Mode II) with a return fraction above 0.5 for the MIBK-rich phase and below 0.55 for the aqueous phase yields a higher production rate and a lower energy cost per unit quantity of product compared to the best achievable values for a conventional unit (Mode I). A perfect decanter improvesproductionrateandenergyefficiencyby8 %overthe best case in a conventionalunit (ModeI). Also, operation without reflux (Mode III) is preferred over a conventional operation (Mode I) with a total return fraction over 0.7 due to its superior energy efficiency and production rate.

Integrating chemical and biological technologies in upcycling plastic waste to medium-chain α,ω-Diacid

The growing accumulation of plastic waste poses a pressing environmental challenge. Traditional disposal methods, such as incineration and landfilling, carry considerable health and ecological risks. In response, our study presents an innovative method to repurpose mixed plastic waste into valuable α,ω-diacids utilizing chemo-biological processes. We extracted pyrolysis oil, rich in hydrocarbons spanning a broad range of chain lengths (C7 to C32), from household plastic waste and employed a genetically engineered β-oxidation-blocked Candida tropicalis strain to convert this oil into α,ω-diacids of various chain lengths. Simple distillation at 200 °C enabled the extraction of medium-chain hydrocarbons from the pyrolysis oil. However, an increased ratio of medium-chain alkenes posed a toxicity challenge to the cells. Through hydrogenation, these medium-chain alkenes were fully converted to alkanes. Remarkably, cell growth was maintained even with an 8% concentration of hydrogenates. The subsequent biotransformation yielded medium-chain diacids, with 94.3% of the produced α,ω-diacids being of medium-chain length (C7 to C14). These results offer a novel and scalable solution for converting everyday plastic waste into valuable chemicals, thus significantly contributing to the circular economy and the advancement of sustainability goals.

One pot microwave-assisted catalytic upgrading of α-angelicalactone to γ-valerolactone over scandium triflate without H2 supply

Biomass upgrading, which supplies important biomaterials, chemicals and fuels, is considered as an efficient way to realize the goal of carbon neutralization. Recently, γ-valerolactone (GVL) has gained increasing attention due to its wide applications. In this work, a novel protocol of microwave-assisted cascade catalytic upgrading of α-angelicalactone (α-AL) to GVL over metal triflate using alcohol as the hydrogen donor was proposed. The yield of GVL production from α-AL upgrading is strongly influenced by the Lewis acid strength of the metal triflate and the reduction potential of the employed alcohol. Among all tests, Sc(OTf)3 showed the best catalytic performance in isopropanol media, giving 96.4 % GVL yield and 100 % α-AL conversion at 433 K within 3.0 h. Meanwhile, kinetic study indicated transfer hydrogenation of isopropyl levulinate to isopropyl 4-hydroxyvalerate was the rate-limited step with the apparent activation energy of 94.5 kJ/mol. This Sc(OTf)3 catalyst was highly stable and could be reused for five cycles by simple vacuum distillation. In a word, this work provides an alternative for GVL production from biomass upgrading.

Acetone Reclamation: An Affordable and Practical Approach to Recycle Impure Acetone from Plastination

Dehydration of the tissues with acetone is one of the critical phases of the plastination procedure, and much acetone is utilized in this step—the present study aimed at acetone reclamation with essential laboratory equipment cost-effectively. The objective was to use the reclamated acetone and not discard it in the environment. In this experiment, 150 liters of impure (used) acetone was taken for reclamation through a simple distillation method. The Institutional Ethical Committee (IEC) of Symbiosis Medical College for Women, Pune, approved the study. Essential laboratory equipment included two heat-resistant glass jars with stoppers, ½ a diameter stainless steel tube, a cooling chamber, a thermostat-controlled hot water bath, an electrode pH meter, and a laboratory thermometer. The cooling chamber condensed the boiling acetone vapours, and pure acetone was collected in the glass jar. The results were calculated using descriptive statistics. With this acetone reclamation setup, 150 liters of impure acetone were recycled, and 128 liters of acetone with a purity of 97% - 99.3% was recovered. The essential equipment for this study pre-existed in our laboratory. The current study also proposes installing a cost-effective acetone reclamation unit at plastination labs to avoid disposing of the impure acetone as toxic waste, thus preventing it from harming the environment. KEYWORDS: Acetone recycling, acetone reclamation, chemical hazards, cost-effective plastination.

PEMBUATAN BIOETANOL DARI MAHKOTA BUAH NANAS VARIETAS CAYANE DENGAN MENGGUNAKAN SACCHAROMYCES CEREVISIAE

The scarcity of petroleum resources or other fuel sources encourages efforts to find alternative energy, namely Bioethanol. Alternative raw materials that can be utilised in the manufacture of bioethanol from biomass are pineapple crowns. Making Bioethanol from Pineapple Fruit Crown Cayane Variety by Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae Microbes is by varying the weight of yeast and the optimum fermentation time on the level of bioethanol produced. In this study using NaOH 1.5%w to degrade the lignin content in the crown of pineapple varieties cayane and H2SO4 2%v to convert cellulose into glucose. The research used variations in yeast weight of 7.5%; 10%; 12.5%w and variations in fermentation time of 2; 3; 4; 5 days in the fermentation process. While the purification process uses simple distillation with operating conditions 78oC-80oC for 2.5 -4 hours. Bioethanol obtained was tested for refractive index and gask romatography (GC). The test results obtained the optimum weight of yeast is 12.5 grams at 3 days fermentation time with bioethanol content of 6.154%.

ESSENTIAL OILS FROM Melaleuca leucadendra AND Pogostemon cablin Benth AS ACTIVE IN HAND SANITIZER WITH ANTIBACTERIAL AND ANTIVIRAL PROPERTIES

In addition to giving a pleasant scent, essential oils in hand sanitizer formulation could contribute to the increase on its efficacy. Herein, we aimed to evaluate the antioxidant, antibacterial, as well as antiviral activities of eucalyptus oil (EO) and patchouli oil (PO), followed by their application in hand sanitizer formulation. Essential oils were obtained from a simple distillation and followed by fractionation using a rotary evaporator. Antioxidant activities of the essential oils were determined based on a DPPH scavenging assay. The antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus as well as Escherichia coli were evaluated under the Kirby-Bauer method. The antiviral activities of EO and PO were based on the replication inhibition of Simian retrovirus-2 (SRV-2) in an A549 cells model. Our data suggest that the fractionation increases the purity of EO and PO based on the content of 1,8-cineole (from 54.08% to 85.05%) and patchouli alcohol (from 29.28% to 85.01%), respectively. IC50 values of fractionated EO and PO in DPPH scavenging activity were 131.21 and 118.20 ppm, categorized as moderately active antioxidants. The optimum inhibition zones against S. aureus along with E. coli were achieved by fractionated EO (10.49 and 15.79 mm, respectively). SRV-2 replication could be effectively attenuated even until day-7 post-infection. When applied in hand sanitizer formulation (in a small amount), only antibacterial activity against E. coli was found higher as compared with usual hand sanitizer. Moreover, in hand sanitizer formulation, the efficacy of antiviral activity against SRV-2 was reduced to only last for 5 days post-infection. EO and PO can be used as active ingredients in hand sanitizer formulation owing to their antibacterial, antiviral, and antioxidant activities.

FF-LPD: A Real-Time Frame-by-Frame License Plate Detector With Knowledge Distillation and Feature Propagation.

With the increasing availability of cameras in vehicles, obtaining license plate (LP) information via on-board cameras has become feasible in traffic scenarios. LPs play a pivotal role in vehicle identification, making automatic LP detection (ALPD) a crucial area within traffic analysis. Recent advancements in deep learning have spurred a surge of studies in ALPD. However, the computational limitations of on-board devices hinder the performance of real-time ALPD systems for moving vehicles. Therefore, we propose a real-time frame-by-frame LP detector focusing on real-time accurate LP detection. Specifically, video frames are categorized into keyframes and non-keyframes. Keyframes are processed by a deeper network (high-level stream), while non-keyframes are handled by a lightweight network (low-level stream), significantly enhancing efficiency. To achieve accurate detection, we design a knowledge distillation strategy to boost the performance of low-level stream and a feature propagation method to introduce the temporal clues in video LP detection. Our contributions are: (1) A real-time frame-by-frame LP detector for video LP detection is proposed, achieving a competitive performance with popular one-stage LP detectors. (2) A simple feature-based knowledge distillation strategy is introduced to improve the low-level stream performance. (3) A spatial-temporal attention feature propagation method is designed to refine the features from non-keyframes guided by the memory features from keyframes, leveraging the inherent temporal correlation in videos. The ablation studies show the effectiveness of knowledge distillation strategy and feature propagation method.

One-pot chitin pulping using recyclable superbase-based protic ionic liquid

The application of ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents offers a promising opportunity for a more environmentally friendly and straightforward chitin purification process from crustacean shells. Nonetheless, the insufficient recyclability of these ionic solvents poses a challenge to the long-term sustainability of such extraction methods. Thus, there is a strong imperative to focus on employing easily recyclable ionic liquids for chitin isolation, enhancing the overall sustainability of the process.In this investigation, a direct chitin purification procedure that utilized pulping liquors consisting of the superbase-based protic ionic liquid 1,5-diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-enium acetate and its precursor, acetic acid, was developed. It was demonstrated that these pulping liquors were capable of simultaneously deproteinate and demineralize shrimp shells to generate chitins with higher purity, degree of N-acetylation and crystallinity than commercially obtained chitin. More significantly, the pulping liquors can be recycled to their pure form in high quantity by simple distillation under reduced pressure, allowing the reuse of these mixtures, which give chitin of nearly identical purity.