How robust and proven technologies for optimal separation are strengthening renewable and circular processes.

To move to a fully circular economy, more than just shifting customer perceptions, increasing investment or government legislation is needed. It has to be built on robust, proven and scalable technologies. One company delivering the technology to make a circular world a reality, Alfa Laval, – will guide us through some solutions in an an exclusive webinar to be broadcast on the 18th November. Alfa Laval supports the bioeconomy in many different ways including zero liquid discharge and water reuse, energy efficient solutions to recover waste heat and reduce CO2 footprint, recovery of valuable biobased products to ensure highest yield and resource efficiency, as well as secure emission reduction and prolong lifetime of equipment.

In this webinar, Alfa Laval will give an introduction to different separation technologies and selection strategies, offer concrete examples of how separation challenges can be solved for algae, bacteria, yeast, bioplastics, pyrolysis oil, HVO pre-treatment, sugar and lignin concentration. It will also cover reuse of wastewater through zero liquid discharge technology, which is applicable for most industries.

Today as special preview we can look in brief examples of these technologies in action:

Wood sugar and chemical production

Centrifugal separation technology which supports the processes behind increased wood sugar production and the production of biobased chemicals like ethanol and glycol by removing lignin after the enzymatic treatment of cellulose to create wood sugar, polishing the wood sugar impurities down to a few ppm of suspended solids only. After the fermentation, centrifugal separation is the technology of use to efficiently remove the yeast cells from the wood sugar-based fermentation broth. In the wood sugar and bio-based chemical production, thermal separation technology improves several sub processes, like wood sugar concentration, lignin concentration and waste water treatment to mention a few.

Algae

Alfa Laval was contacted with questions on algae separation in harvesting for an unusually challenging algae for CO2 sequestration project. Normally microalgae separation works just fine in centrifugal separators, this is a technology that has been used for decades in e.g. algae farming for nutrition and cosmetics, and is well established. This particular algae strain however, selected for the ideal properties of the project, turned out to be both shear sensitive and sensitive to higher G-force exposure over time. Tests with a traditional centrifuge by the customer did not give the results needed for a successful process.

The team at Alfa Laval realized this specific strain most probably could be separated when applying our low shear design of centrifuge, which also have the benefit of keeping the power consumption very low, approximately only some 40% compared to conventional centrifuges. Using the project data, Alfa Laval together with the project could simulate the performance on Explore.alfalaval.com to clarify separation targets should be met prior to designing a pilot test. Using the project’s g-force exposure findings, Alfa Laval also adapted the speed and G-force to get test matrix to find the operational limits. The on-site pilot tests then made, proved the operating window and harvesting process, which is key information as the project now moves forward to an industrial scale up.

Zero liquid discharge (ZLD).

ZLD is a treatment process designed to remove all the liquid waste from a system. To give an example, a customer collects mixed waste and turn it into valuable products in a co-generation power plant. They have an efficient sorting system that sorts what can be recyclable and furthermore produces a number of products like bio coal pellets, diesel and bio-ethanol. The team at Alfa Laval has supplied a zero liquid discharge system to treat wastewater from these various subprocesses. The concentrate is burnt in the power boiler and so natural gas consumption is reduced (and thereby their CO2 footprint), water is reused and the heat in the wastewater is used in an efficient way.

Expert views

A trio of experts from Alfa Laval ( @Alfa_Laval ) will be leading the webinar and participating in the Q&A.

Kristian Lindell, Product expert, Global Sales Evaporation and Zero liquid discharge is a process engineer with an interest within the entire field of applied chemical engineering, always eager to discuss challenges and finding optimal solutions.

Speaking ahead of the webinar, Kristian tell us; “My previous PhD work and experience within the pulp and paper industry and traditional refinery business is very helpful in his current focus on thermal evaporation system design for applications being developed – both for product upgrading and for closing the water loop through zero liquid discharge – as traditional pulp and paper mills are transforming into biorefineries, traditional oil refineries into green-fuels producers, and other industries move into circular economy.”

He will be joined by Tom Manelius, Product expert, Global Sales High speed separators whose role is in focused on explaining and quickly assessing the centrifugal separation technology. Tom tells us; “The increased interest in creating fossil free and circular processes tend to put new demands on separation, and I’m keen to make sure that our movement towards a more sustainable world is not hindered by insufficient insights into how far high-end separation technology can boost performance.”

And completing our line-up will be Nina Håkanson, Vice President, Head of Marketing & Portfolio Management who follows closely global market trends and leads product development for separation equipment, and has a focus on sustainability; “I have a strong belief in technology as a key enabler to build a circular economy and are excited to be able to share some of our experience as well as advice and best practice in moving towards a greener future.”

—-> So, register now for Robust and proven technologies for securing optimal separation in renewable and circular processes, 18th November – 6AM (PDT), 9AM (EDT), 2PM (GMT), 3PM (CET) and on-demand.

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