Water Extraction in a York-Scheibel Column

Liquid-liquid extraction uses two immiscible or partly miscible liquids to separate a solute by solubility differences. The feed and solvent are mixed, then separated so the solute moves from the feed into the solvent. The solvent-rich stream leaving the unit is the extract, and the solute-poor stream is the raffinate.

Liquid-liquid extraction, or LLE, is a technique used to separate liquids that can not be separated with distillation due to temperature-sensitive components or similar solvent boiling points. Mass transfer in LLE is driven by the solubility difference of the solute in the immiscible or partially miscible feed and solvent streams. The feed strea...