Andrzej Górak

Despite its unique properties (biocompatibility and nontoxicity), chitin itself has limited application. Chitin is completely insoluble in most organic or inorganic solvents what can be beneficial when chitin is investigated as a support for chromatography or enzyme immobilization. These applications require the particles to have an extensive outer surface with a large number of reactive ligands. The increase in specific surface area of chitin particles can be performed by dissolution in ionic liquid and precipitation with water. To increase the number of reactive ligands (amine groups), deacetylation of the surface of chitin particles is necessary. The deacetylation process can be carried out by an enzymatic process with the enzyme, chitin deacetylase. In our investigation, 21 ionic liquids were used for chitin particle structure modification followed by enzymatic deacetylation. Results proved positive effect of modifications with ionic liquid on enzymatic deacetylation of the chitin surface with chitin deacetylase. For 12 samples the deacetylation gave an increase in number of active ligands in comparison to natural chitin. The best results were observed for [Bmim][Br], [Emim][Cl] and [MPpip][Ac]. That could be correlated with an increase in outer surface area by increasing porosity of particles or by structural changes in chitin particles.

A method for pressure drop prediction using Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was designed and validated experimentally with a set of baffle-based geometry types of Rotating Packed Bed’s packings. The methodology served as a foundation for a CFD optimisation tool of internal geometry based on minimal pressure drop. The baffles in the geometry were characterized by five parameters: bottom and top internal rounding, bottom and top external rounding, and baffle inclination angle. Based on the variables, 78 different geometry types were created and subjected to pressure drop optimisation with the CFD tool. The optimal geometry was manufactured, and the simulation results were verified experimentally. Up to 54% decrease in pressure drop was observed in comparison to the pre-optimisation packing. Mass transfer experiments were conducted with the use of CO 2 -NaOH absorption system, and results showed that the optimised packing, despite exhibiting less pressure drop, was capable of achieving up to 17% increase in effective mass transfer area.

Die chemische Industrie sieht sich mit gravierenden Herausforderungen konfrontiert: Die Einhaltung der Klimaschutzziele, die Auswirkungen der Energiewende und die zunehmende Bedeutung der Kreislaufwirtschaft treffen die gesamte Wertschöpfungskette. Lösungsansätze von der Prozess‐ über die Apparateebene bis hin zum Einzelphänomen sind notwendig, um die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit dieses zentralen Industriezweigs zu erhalten. In diesem Beitrag werden aktuelle Entwicklungen und zukünftige Handlungsfelder in der Trenntechnik, die für diese Herausforderungen wertvolle Beiträge leisten können, dargestellt.