Chemical Engineering July 2022 - 5

Chementator
New design allows countercurrent heat
exchange with hard-to-process slurries
C
ountercurrent heat-exchange
with difficult slurries,
such as those of
mineral ore or stringy
vegetables, has not been possible
because suspended solids pack
and foul the shell of shell-and-tube
designs and plug the passages in
plate-and-frame units.
Now, a recently patented heat-exchanger
design in which a solid matrix
of conductive material surrounds
two sets of alternating, adjacent
tubes makes it possible to effectively
transfer heat between two slurries.
Developed by the mining engineering
firm Kappes, Cassiday & Associates
(KCA; Reno, Nev.; www.kcareno.
com), the exchanger has the potential to
substantially reduce energy and maintenance
costs, says the company.
The new design has a similar appearance
to a conventional shell-and-tube heat
exchanger, but the hollow shell is replaced
by a solid heat-exchange matrix of aluminum
(diagram). One slurry to be heated or
cooled is flowed in one direction through
the heat exchange section using one set
of stainless-steel tubes, while another fluid
is flowed through a second set of parallel
tubes in the opposite direction.
The spacing of the tubes is based on
KCA
Edited by:
Gerald Ondrey
CELLULOSIC ETHANOL
Tubes are
typically
stainless steel,
tightly bonded
to the matrix
Matrix is typically
aluminum
mathematical modeling of heat flow between
the two intercalated sets of tubes,
and is set so that heat flows perpendicularly
between adjacent tubes. According to
KCA, the tube spacing must be close to
maximize perpendicular heat flow, but not
too close, which would make construction
very expensive.
The patented technology includes a system
for coupling the tubes to link modules
together to lengthen the heat-exchange
range. KCA points out that while the exchanger
was designed for mineral slurries,
many variations on the concept are possible
for other applications.
Polymer-coal composite used for
building materials
-Materials (Orlando, Fla.; www.xmaterials.com),
the advanced materials
division of Semplastics Inc.,
has developed a method for manufacturing
a coal-containing ceramic polymer-composite
material that is being used
to make building materials, such as roofing
tiles, as well as other products.
According to X-Materials founder Bill
Easter, the material, known as Coal Core
Composite (CCC), combines desirable
properties from three material types: the
high strength and durability of metals; the
high-temperature and fire resistance of
ceramics; and the lightweight of plastics,
while also sequestering coal carbon. The
CCC is formed by heating powdered coal
with a proprietary resin to form a chemically
bound (rather than sintered) siliconoxygen-carbon
composite, Easter says.
" There's been a great deal of interest in
these types of materials in the past, but producing
them cost-effectively at scale has
X
been elusive, " Easter explains. " We've been
able to solve those issues with the CCC. "
X-materials recently received a research
and development contract from the U.S.
Department of Energy's National Energy
Technology Laboratory (Morgantown,
W.Va.; netl.doe.gov) to build a prototype
dwelling made mostly from coal-derived
building materials, including roof tiles, siding
panels, bricks and blocks. The company
previously established a manufacturing line
in Bluefield, W.Va. for the production of the
roofing tiles. X-Materials plans to have the
house constructed by 2023.
In parallel to the production of CCC for
building materials, another team within
the company is developing coal-containing
composites for high-capacity battery
anodes for lithium-ion batteries. Other
applications under development for the
composites include high-temperature
plastics, 3D printing and spacecraft and
satellite components.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
JULY 2022
Clariant AG (Muttenz, Switzerland;
www.clariant.com)
has produced the first commercial
cellulosic ethanol at
its sunliquid production plant
in Podari, Romania. The
entire offtake is contracted
with a multi-year agreement
to Shell. Over the last
six months, the plant - the
first commercial unit to apply
sunliquid technology - underwent
a thorough commissioning
process, resulting
in the successful start of
production. Approximately
50,000 tons of secondgeneration
biofuels will be
derived from 250,000 tons
of locally sourced agricultural
residues. The cellulosic ethanol
produced at this plant can
be applied as a drop-in solution
for fuel blending, but also
offers further downstream
application opportunities for
sustainable aviation fuel and
bio-based chemicals.
" The advanced biofuel produced
by the sunliquid technology
process supports the
decarbonization of the transport
sector by providing up to
120% CO2 savings compared
to fossil fuel, " says Christian
Librera, head of Business Line
Biofuels & Derivatives.
Sunliquid is a biotechnological
method for manufacturing
cellulosic ethanol from
agricultural residues, such as
cereal straw, corn stover or
sugar-cane bagasse. In the
completely integrated process,
highly optimized, raw
material-specific biocatalysts
decompose cellulose and
hemicellulose in high yields
under stable processing
conditions into fermentable
sugar. The process-integrated
production of the biocatalysts
offers flexibility and
reduces production costs.
In the next step, an optimized
fermentation organism
simultaneously converts
C5 and C6 into ethanol with
high yields and short reaction
times. A highly optimized
purification process is instrumental
in enabling all the en(Continues
on p. 6)
5
http://www.clariant.com http://www.kcareno.com http://www.kcareno.com http://www.x-materials.com http://www.x-materials.com https://netl.doe.gov/ http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering July 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering July 2022
