Simulation And Optimization Of Separation Technology Of Eucalyptus Oil

1,8-cineole is a widely used natural product; it can be obtained by separating from eucalyptus oil existing in eucalyptus foliage or chemical synthesizing. It is used for medicament, spice, food, daily chemicals and so on, because of its special aroma and good anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and insecticide repellent effect.Due to large eucalyptus planting area and high oil yield, China’s eucalyptus oil source is adequate. Therefore China is one of the leading exporters worldwide in the eucalyptus oil trade. Eucalyptus oil production in China accounted for90%of world production, but most of the exported eucalyptus oil contains only80%of1,8-cineole, their value-added is relatively low. Meanwhile the highly-purified eucalyptus oil is in great demand in the world of eucalyptus oil trade. So it is of much practical significance to study the process for the purification of eucalyptus oil.Eucalyptus oil is a mixture of a variety of terpenoids. It’s difficult to be purified to99%by conventional separation methods. Physical and chemical properties of1,8-cineole are rarely seen reported in the literature. Until recent years, some researchers began to study basic data and phase equilibrium data of the1,8-cineole. However, these data are not sufficient, it needs additional experimental data to improve the basic data of1,8-cineole.The main contents of this thesis was organized as the following:(1)The measurement of binary phase equilibrium data.The vapor-liquid equilibrium datas between1,8-cineole and a-pinene, limonene, p-cymene,γ-terpinene and a-terpineol were measured respectively at the50mbar in the experiments. And the difficulties were pointed out in eucalyptus oil distillation purification process.(2)The surface tension is an important transfer property of the substance. However, the surface tension values of1,8-cineole have never been reported in the literatures. This paper reported the changing relationship for the surface tension values of1,8-cineole with temperature.(3)The density and index of refraction of1,8-cineole have been reported, but the value were insufficient and needed to the further research. So, this work measured the density and refractive index of1,8-cineole,(4)The distillation separation process between1,8-cineole and alpha-pinene binary component was simulated by employing process simulation software Aspen Plus. After the Simulation for the binary component distillation separation process, the results were analyzed and the distillation process was optimized by a variety of advanced features of Aspen-plus software. Finally, the suitable operating parameters and process conditions were obtained.