Salt/Catalyst Removal

This subprocess handles the removal of salts and catalysts suspended in the product stream from the sorbitol reactor. Below you will find all of the additional information pertaining to this subprocess.

Salts
The sorbitol hydrogenolysis reaction must be done under slightly basic conditions. Typical pH ranges for the reaction are between 7 - 11. Potassium Hydroxide is used as a base promoter in the reaction dissolving potassium cations in solution.

Potassium cations are difficult to remove from solution by using a precipitation method due to its high solubility in aqueous solution. For this reason we have decided to use a system of Ion Exchange Columns.

Using an industrial ion exchange resin called Amberlite 252, we hope to achieve an acceptable removal with minimal regeneration time and materials. Amberlite 252 is a strong acid resin that can be regenerated with HCl or H ₂ SO ₄ . For our purposes we plan on using hydrochloric acid to regenerate the resin because it allows faster regeneration flow rates.

Process Flow
The newest process flow diagram can be viewed here.