Chemical Engineering & Technology, Vol.36, No.7, 1157-1164, 2013
A Fully Automated Ad- and Desorption Method for Resin and Solvent Screening
Ad- and desorption are common techniques for the purification of natural substances. The main drawback is the tedious experimental procedure for resin and solvent screening. An approach of fully automated batch experiments is presented. In order to fulfill all requirements like automation of flexible dosing of loose resins, handling organic solvents, and providing reproducible conditions, these experiments are performed on a custom-built modular robotic platform. The batch ad- and desorption experiments were fully automated for the determination of essential process parameters like kinetics, isotherms, and thermodynamic parameters without the need of manual intervention. Thus, the hands-on time could be significantly reduced by more than 90% which contributes to improved health and safety outcome by preventing the contact of operators to potentially hazardous materials.