Peroxide
The areas of application for hydrogen peroxide are extremely varied: Hydrogen peroxide is used for the the production of washing agents, for bleaching paper, cellulose, wood, textiles; as crude product which will be converted into propylene oxide for cleaning waste water and drinking water; in the medical industry as a disinfection agent; and finally for “bleaching” hair. Nowadays, more than 95 percent of the huge quantities of hydrogen peroxide required for these processes are made using variations of the anthraquinone process. This process comprises the four main stages of hydration, oxidation, washing and concentration.
Within this process, an organic working solution circulates the whole process. The working solution is recovered in a one- or multi-stage cross-current washing step. An aqueous phase is added which extracts impurities from the working solution. Subsequently, it can be removed from the organic phase by centrifugal means. Solid-wall bowl separators with disc stack are used in this step. In other process applications, an aqueous phase is added to extract the impurities from an organic peroxide itself. Similar as above, solid-wall bowl type separators with disc stack are used to centrifugally separate both phases.
Production of peroxide
Maximum safety and separating efficiency
Peroxides can decompose even in the absence of oxygen at comparatively low process temperatures. The separators are accordingly explosion-protected. The design of the TTC separators also provides new methods of further improving separating efficiency. In the majority of the peroxide processes described above the light phase makes up the biggest portion of the complete flow rate, usually above 90 percent. Accordingly, the largest part of the separator’s capacity must be used for purifying the light phase. This is possible with the TTC series type separators from GEA Westfalia Separator, without having to accept restrictions on other beneficial features, such as discharge of both separated phases under pressure.