Sizing Chamber for Pressure Reduction - CO2 Essential Oil Extraction

[andyhull77]

Hello,

I am new here and have a question about sizing a chamber for pressure reduction.

I am going to run CO2 75 degree at 1000 psi into a chamber that is 150+ degrees. What size chamber...or what volume rather do I need to drop down to the 2-300psi range?

I am sure this is a vague or improper question. But it is for a CO2 essential oil extraction setup and cannot find the answer anywhere.

Thanks

Andy

 

[SteamKing]

You are correct. It is a vague question. The pressure in the chamber will depend on how much CO2 is placed inside. Is the chamber initially evacuated before the CO2 is admitted? How is the CO2 delivered to the chamber? Does it come through a pipeline or from another container which is close to the chamber? How is the flow of the CO2 controlled? Is the chamber insulated?

 

[andyhull77]

Steamking, Thanks for the reply.

The system is a closed loop system. There is a vacuum on the system before the CO2 is added so it fills the entire system before pressurization. The CO2 is run through plant material at pressure removing the essential oils from it. The pressurized oil laden CO2 is and sprayed into a larger heated vessel atomizing it and subsequently separating the oil from the gas. This is where the pressure drop happens. Going from a 1/4" line at 1000 psi and 75 degrees into a 6" vessel at 150 degrees.

The current machine we have goes into a smaller separation vessel at the same temp. But has 2 vessels. One for the primary separation and a secondary vessel "just in case" it needs a little more separation. I want to go to a larger vessel at a much higher temp, assuming there will be a more efficient separation of the particles due to the greater pressure drop and higher temperature allowing me to use maybe 1 - 6" vessel as opposed to 2 - 4" vessels.

I do not know the calculation for the sizing of the vessel based on the pressure and temperature differential. I would like to be able to use 1 larger vessel to take the place of the 2 smaller ones basically.

Thanks for any help.

Andy