APPARATUS FOR CLARIFICATION OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OF POROUS SILICA FROM AGRICULTURAL WASTE

Abstract

An apparatus to clear and upgrade a quality of native or recovered compounds, paraffinic or naphthenic, and other hydrocarbons containing compounds or polar species, which are to be separated and to adsorb components responsible for dark appearance or darkening of recycling motor oil, vegetable and animal fatty acids through of porous silica obtained from agricultural waste, including a treatment with adsorbent, a porous silica obtained from agricultural waste; one or more containers with different volumes and geometric shape, according to needs of what is going to be treated, configured for the porous silica, the hydrocarbons and other compounds to be treated in contact; an element for temperature control of the mixture of the silica with the compound to be treated; an element for controlling pressure and flow of the mixture of the silica with the compound; and an element that filters and retains the adsorbent inside of the apparatus.

Claims

1. An apparatus to clear and upgrade a quality of native or recovered compounds, paraffinic or naphthenic, and other hydrocarbons containing compounds or polar species, which are to be separated and to adsorb components responsible for dark appearance or darkening of recycling motor oil, vegetable and animal fatty acids through of porous silica obtained from agricultural waste, comprising: an adsorbent comprising a porous silica obtained from agricultural waste; one or more containers with different volumes and geometric shape, according to needs of what is going to be treated, configured for the porous silica, the hydrocarbons and other compounds to be treated in contact; an element for temperature control of the mixture of the silica with the compound to be treated; an element for controlling pressure and flow of the mixture of the silica with the compound to be treated; and a filter configured to filter and retain the adsorbent inside the apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the porous silica or adsorbent, is prepared from the agricultural waste by a process comprising: leaching the waste with acid solution; drying and burning the waste at 200 C.-1200 C. for a period of from hour to 8 hours; ball milling the waste after it is dried and burnt; discarding particles larger than about 40 microns to produce the adsorbent; packing the adsorbent in a container of suitable geometry suitable.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising regenerating the porous silica with a subsequent thermic treatment at a temperature from about 200 C. to about 1200 C.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the leaching is conducted for a period of 2 to 168 hours.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the leaching is conducted for a period of 24 to 72 hours.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] An embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, by way of example. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a sample system, made up of several cylindrical tubes, preferably metallic, with an inner diameter and a length, which can vary according to the needs of the compound to be treated. The metal tubes are located inside a temperature-controlled sleeve, whether through heat exchange by means of fluid recirculation or electric strength. The adsorbent is packed inside the metal tubes, and there they are put in contact, the adsorbent and the fluid to be treated, for the necessary time. The design of the system, the geometry and the dimensions vary according to the volume and the product to be treated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0010] This invention is an economical and environmentally-friendly process to treated, purify and upgrade compounds that contain chemical species responsible for the dark appearance or the darkening in many chemicals compounds, particularly bleaching and upgrading the quality of native or recovered, paraffinic and naphthenic compounds, others currents from petrochemicals industries, and vegetable and animal fatty acids, like edibles vegetable oils, where in all of them there are polar species of different chemical nature, which need to be separated from the matrix in which they are found. The outcome is a substantially better color and a significant reduction of the content of polar species, sulfur and metals up to the level of traces. By way of example, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the proposed sample system for bleaching. To simplify, in this case, the apparatus, which also comprises: one or more containers with different volumes and geometric shape, according to the needs of what is going to be treated, is configured for the porous silica, the compounds to be treated are put in contact; an element for temperature control; one element for controlling the pressure and flow; and one filtration element). The system can be tailor-made to the treated volume. The adsorbent is made as follows: a determinate quantity of agricultural waste (e.g.: peanut shell, rice shell, bamboo leaves and sugarcane pulp) are washed with distilled water to remove dirt. The solid is let to soak with enough volume of a solution to 15% of acid (hydrochloric acid, acetic acid, phosphoric acid and alike) for up to 48 hours to leach and remove all the metal content. The leached product is washed with distilled water to achieve pH 7 in the washout. The solid is dried up in a furnace for 6 hours. The solid is burned out in a furnace in two stages: first stage at 100 C.-400 C. for 4 hours, and second stage at 200 C.-1000 C. for 4 hours. The resulting solid is ball milled to yield a high dispersion solid from 10 nm to 40 microns. The solid is made of amorphous, highly porous silicon dioxide. The solid of such a size maintains a porous skeletal structure. This low-compaction skeletal structure with active groups inside helps trap small polar molecules, responsible for the dark appearance or the darkening in many chemicals compounds, e.g.: native or recovered, paraffinic and naphthenic compounds, others currents from petrochemicals industries, and vegetable and animal fatty acids, like edibles vegetable oils. The amorphous shape of silica does not cause silicosis, for easier handling and better care. The solid is held in a dry chamber until use. The sample system shown in FIG. 1 is filled with the adsorbent. The system may be heated at 50 C.-180 C.