Comparison between supercritical carbon dioxide extraction and aqueous surfactant washing of an oily machining waste

Mathematical models are developed to compare aqueous surfactant washing to supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) extraction. These two cleaning processes are potentially competitive technologies which can be used to remove oily contaminants from a solid waste. In both processes, the cleaning efficiency for a batch of waste is evaluated by quantifying the residual oil content in the treated sample. A mass transfer model is used to simulate a semi-continuous washing process, and the experimental data, obtained in a batch operation, are used to estimate the equilibrium parameters in the model. For SCCO2 extraction, a linear desorption model is used to describe the supercritical desorption of oil from the solid phase into the CO2 phase and the simulated results agreed very well with the experimental data. The oil removal in aqueous surfactant washing is viewed to be controlled primarily by the diffusional transport of oil from the interiors of the waste elements to the surface, thus, it can be significantly affected by the size of the particles. A pre-cleaning pulverization is then recommended to improve the cleaning efficiency without increasing any other operation costs. In SCCO2 extraction, the desorption of oil from the solid waste is the controlling step and consequently, the solvent flow rate has no influence on oil removal. Our theoretical studies show that the difference between the cleaning efficiencies of these two technologies is not significant, with the oil concentration in the washing products approximately 5% lower than that in the extraction products.