FAQ

What is the Devolatilization Process?

Devolatilization is the process of removing low-molecular-weight components, known as volatiles, from a material. These components can include:

Residual Monomers: Leftover building blocks from polymer production.
Solvents: Used to dissolve or disperse materials during processing.
Reaction Byproducts: Unwanted chemicals produced during a chemical reaction.
Water: Absorbed by materials that need to be removed for certain applications.

Devolatilization plays a crucial role in industries such as polymers, adhesives, and coatings, where removing these volatile components is essential for product quality and performance.

What Representative Solutions Does DODGEN Offer in Terms of Technology and Process?

Taking biobased succinic acid as an example, the concentration of succinic acid in the fermentation broth is typically low, often only a few percent. The mixture is complex, with various components dissolved in the broth. Additionally, succinic acid has a high boiling point, is highly sensitive, and can easily form anhydride when heated, making separation challenging.

DODGEN’s solution involves first esterifying the fermentation broth to produce dimethyl succinate, which is then distilled from the reaction mixture to obtain a preliminary concentrated form. This is followed by crystallization to produce dimethyl succinate with a purity of over 99.5%. The purified dimethyl succinate can then be hydrogenated to produce BDO (1,4-butanediol) or directly reacted with BDO to create PBS (polybutylene succinate), a biodegradable material that is gaining interest as a future sustainable solution.

How to View the Future and Industry Trends of Biotechnology?

The biochemical industry is increasingly merging with the traditional chemical industry, a trend that is accelerating. Today, the biochemical industry has already replaced parts of the traditional chemical industry, producing bioethanol, amino acids, lactic acid, succinic acid, biological nylon, and biopolymer materials.

As synthetic biology continues to advance, the proportion of the biochemical industry replacing traditional chemical processes will grow, and I believe this transition will happen at an even faster pace. Biochemical processes have advantages such as mild synthesis conditions and the ability to produce chiral homogeneous substances, especially in drug synthesis. These processes also do not rely on fossil energy sources.

However, there are challenges. The crude products from biochemical synthesis often have low concentrations, complex components, and difficult separation and purification processes. This presents a need for advanced separation technologies. Biochemical processes require new separation techniques that can finely separate multiple components from crude products and handle heat-sensitive substances. These technologies must operate at relatively low temperatures to reduce side reactions.

Biochemical engineering is developing rapidly and is poised to be a key part of the future of green chemical engineering. It will complement and enhance the traditional chemical industry, driving the trend toward more sustainable chemical processes.

What Are the Current Bottlenecks in the Technology of the Bio-based Raw Materials Industry?

In the bio-based materials, chemicals, and functional chemicals sectors, the biosynthesis process is not just a biochemical reaction but also incorporates traditional natural biological cycles. One key challenge is integrating the concept of “separation” into large-scale industrial production, which requires a systemic approach that addresses core technical bottlenecks.

From a natural circulation separation perspective, the characteristics of biosynthetic systems present a significant challenge. The difficulty in separating complex biological components is, in my view, the most substantial technical bottleneck in the field of biochemistry.

How to Choose the Four Types of Static Mixers?

DSV-Type High-Efficiency Mixer
Typically used for gas-gas, gas-liquid, and liquid-liquid material absorption, mixing, and reaction processes with low material viscosity (≤ 102). It is particularly suitable for mass transfer between clean media.
DSX-Type High-Efficiency Mixer
Suitable for gas-gas, gas-liquid, and liquid-liquid mixing and reaction processes. Known for its wide applicability and uniform mixing characteristics.
DSXL-Type High-Efficiency Mixer
Applied for heat transfer, mixing, and forced heat exchange of high-viscosity materials (≤ 106) and polymer materials. Often used in multi-tube configurations, especially in polymer devolatilization.
DSK-Type High-Efficiency Mixer
Used for mixing, reaction, and heat transfer processes involving high-viscosity materials (≤ 106) in liquid-liquid and solid-liquid applications. It is especially suitable for low-flow applications with impurities in viscous media.

What Are the Roles of Custom Static Mixers in Industrial Processes?

Static mixers are efficient, moving-part-free devices widely used for continuous and effective pipeline mixing. Depending on the specific mixing requirements and material properties, different types and quantities of mixing unit components are selected. These components are designed to disperse materials individually, mix them thoroughly, and ensure optimal dispersion, achieving effective mixing across diverse industrial applications.

What is Packing Material? What is the Role of Packing Material?

Packing material is essential in optimizing chemical separation, also known as mass transfer, by providing a large wetted surface area. In the mass transfer process, separation occurs through the contrasting forces of heat, pressure, and gravity. Heat and pressure drive vapor upwards, while gravity causes liquid substances to move downward. Packing material amplifies these forces, accelerating and enhancing the efficiency of the chemical separation process.

What is the Difference Between Structured Packing and Random Packing?

Random Packing: This type uses small packing materials randomly distributed within the column. It helps in the separation process by providing a large surface area for vapor/liquid contact but lacks any specific arrangement.
Structured Packing: In contrast, structured packing uses larger, fixed packing materials. These organized structures guide liquids through defined passages, providing more controlled and stable separation conditions.

What is Random Packing?

Random packing is typically used in separation columns, such as distillation columns, to increase the surface area for vapor/liquid interaction, thereby improving separation efficiency. Small pieces of random packing are designed to create a large surface area within the column, promoting contact between reacting substances while minimizing complexity. The main goal of random packing is to maximize the surface area-to-volume ratio and minimize pressure drop within the column.

What Are the Advantages of Random Packing?

Random packing is widely used in separation processes, offering several key advantages. The primary benefit is its significantly lower cost compared to structured packing. Additionally, random packing enhances surface area, mass transfer, and overall efficiency, while remaining more affordable than traditional techniques such as tray technology. Random packing is commonly applied in processes like stripping, distillation, carbon dioxide adsorption, and liquid-liquid extraction.

What is Structured Packing?

When the structure provided by random packing is insufficient, structured packing is used. Structured packing consists of organized materials, typically discs made from metal, plastic, or ceramics, arranged in consistent honeycomb-like patterns within the column. This design helps guide liquids into specific shapes, providing a larger contact surface for efficient mass transfer. Structured packing is engineered to minimize resistance, ensuring smoother liquid flow while maximizing contact.

What Are the Advantages of Structured Packing?

In packed columns, maximizing the contact between liquids and gases is critical. Structured packing effectively facilitates this by allowing liquids to spread into thin films, increasing surface contact and improving performance. Some structured packing materials have additional textural designs that further promote liquid spreading. This feature is particularly useful in low-pressure applications, where relying solely on internal pressure may not ensure optimal liquid distribution.

How to Choose Between Structured Packing and Random Packing?

The primary advantage of random packing is its cost-effectiveness. If the application requires high capacity with lower efficiency and cost is a limiting factor, random packing provides reliable performance at a more affordable price.

On the other hand, structured packing is ideal for applications requiring high capacity and efficiency. The intricate internal structure of structured packing provides a larger surface area, which results in significantly higher capacity. Its smooth honeycomb form minimizes resistance to liquid flow, improving efficiency. Additionally, structured packing is better suited for scenarios where a low pressure drop is essential, as it generally offers a lower pressure drop compared to random packing.

What Are the Advantages of the DODGEN Micro Reactor in Tubular Reactions?

The DODGEN micro reactor is specifically designed for highly exothermic, rapid reactions with a small liquid hold-up. It excels in rapid mass and heat transfer, preventing the “temperature runaway” phenomenon, ensuring high safety. This reactor enables parallel scale-up of tubular reactions without amplification effects, allowing for continuous reactions with minimal side effects. It enhances selectivity and achieves high conversion rates. Additionally, DODGEN provides stainless steel small-scale and pilot-scale equipment for customer experimentation.

What Are the Advantages of DODGEN Polymerization Reactors in Producing Polymer Products of Different Grades?

The DODGEN polymerization reactor handles a wide range of viscosity distributions in polymerization reactions. It ensures accurate temperature control inside the reactor, reduces side reactions, and eliminates dead regions, ensuring uniform distribution. The reactor is capable of producing polymer products of varying grades in separate reaction zones, allowing for precise and independent temperature control. It operates continuously, maintaining stable product quality with low pressure drop and minimal maintenance costs, all without requiring agitation equipment.

What Is an Extraction Tower?

An extraction tower, or liquid-liquid extraction column, is a crucial piece of equipment used in the liquid-liquid extraction process. This method separates compounds based on their solubilities in two immiscible liquids, typically water and an organic solvent.

The extraction tower is a vertically oriented cylindrical apparatus designed to facilitate the mixing and separation of these two phases. The mixture to be separated and the solvent are introduced at different points within the tower. The design allows for a large surface area between the two immiscible liquids, promoting the transfer of solute from the feed mixture to the solvent.

To enhance mass transfer, the tower often uses trays or packing materials to increase turbulence. The separated components are collected at different exit points. The tower’s design and operating parameters depend on the substances to be separated, the characteristics of the solvent, and the required throughput.