Liquid-liquid centrifugal extractors: types and recent applications – a review

Abstract

In light of the elevating pressures toward adopting intensifying technologies, centrifugal extractors are increasingly drawing attention as a promising alternative to traditional extraction equipment. Recently, many fields have applied them in research and that resulted in a considerable amount of information that may be hard to follow. To keep interested researchers updated, this work presents the state-of-the-art status of those devices. That is, the different types of centrifugal extractors are first surveyed with emphasis on those available on the market nowadays. Then, their recent applications are covered with exclusion of two fields: oil-water separations and nuclear industry, as the purpose is to accent centrifugal extractors' potential and compatibility with the widest possible range of applications beyond traditional ones. A further section addresses the hydrodynamics of annular centrifugal contactors that form a major subfamily of centrifugal extractors. Those annular variants have received special focus throughout this work, since not only are they the most encountered devices in literature but also still to date under development with latest versions being 3D-printed.