Wiped Film Distillation System
The Pope Wiped Film Distillation system is a continuous distillation unit. It is designed for purification of temperature sensitive materials and to increase the precision of distillation cuts. The feed hopper to the unit is 2-L, which can be continuously replenished to distill on the order of 10-20 liters/day of material. In its current configuration, the system is capable of operations up to 200oC, at atmospheric pressure or under vacuum.

This intermediate scale is critical because it allows, for example, traditional fuel analysis to be conducted (e.g., RON or MON), so that the material can be compared to petroleum based fuels. Many of these analysis techniques require over 1-L of material, which can be achieved in a timely and efficient manner at this scale.

Skid-mounted Distillation System
A larger-scale, skid-mounted continuous flow distillation system, with a nominal feed flow rate of 1-4 gallons/hour is also a capability that resides at PNNL. The system operates at ambient pressure and up to 425°C. The column itself is comprised of stainless steel packing to enable efficient separations.

This system is well-suited to produce gallon quantities of materials (e.g., ~30 gallons/day) that can then be used for more detailed analyses and/or engine testing, for example.