Miscella

As miscella (lat. Mixed ), a mixture of organic extraction / solvent and oil indicated that during the recovery of vegetable oils as a intermediate product is obtained.

Miscella occurs when solvents (such as n- hexane or acetone) are used in solid-liquid separation processes. This is what makes a liquid-liquid extraction process possible. The extractant (liquid solvent) usually dissolves an oil content of 10-30% in itself. Almost solvent-free oil is recovered through distillation using superheated steam and subsequent phase separation. The costly extraction / solvent can be returned to the extraction cycle. The water fed into the process by superheated steam and separated in the downstream distillative phase separation process must be fed to a wastewater treatment plant .

The formation of miscella increases the selectivity / quality of the desired product oil compared to purely mechanical solid-liquid separation processes.

literature

• Guideline VDI 2592: 2010-12 Emission Reduction - Oil mills for the extraction of vegetable oils and meal through prepressing and / or extraction systems . Beuth Verlag, Berlin. ( Abstract )