Extraction in a Single-Stage Mixer-Settler

A new design of a single-stage mixer-settler is presented. A horizontal mixing compartment, 5.5-cm diameter and 12 cm long, leading to a similar vertical coalescence compartment reduced the settler volume to a minimum. Almost complete solute transfer occurred in the mixer for the system used, while the vertical settler, 3.5-cm diameter and 40 cm long, served merely as a flash separator. This provision may prove that only a single properly designed single stage may be enough for many extraction duties with the result of low overall investment compared to other contactors. The contactor performance was investigated by the test system toluene-acetic acid-water at 25 °C. Data analysis using a flash vaporization technique gave very good agreement with the experimental results.