Lab Plants
| Evaporator |
| Condenser |
| Heating System |
| Cooling System |
| Vacuum System |
| Feed System |
| Discharge System |
| Power Supply |
| Control + Instrumentation |
| Piping, Rack |
UIC's lab units follow a modular design and may be flexibly customized to diverse distillation tasks. Core components of each plant are listed in the adjacent table:
All distillation units (evaporators and condensers) of our lab units are fabricated from borosilicate glass. Borosilicate glass is chemically inert and resistant to corrosive materials. It also allows a visual inspection of the distillation process.
Another common characteristic of our lab units is the roller wiper system which allows an intense agitation of the product film on the evaporator surface. Roller wipers show virtually no abrasive wear and are appreciated for their capability for self-cleaning which largely prevents fouling.
Heating in our lab units is accomplished with thermal oil allowing maximum temperatures at the evaporator in the range of 250°C…350°C.
Depending on the specific feed material pressures may be as low as 10-3 mbar.
UIC's lab units are easily put into operation and straighforward and robust in their handling. They are easy to disassemble and clean. Their prefered field of operation is in research and development.
Benefits from our modular framework include:
- mature and proven components
- flexible configuration according to customer requirements
- short delivery times
- attractive cost / benefit ratio
- easy availability of spare parts
Feed rates may vary from about 100 g/h up to about 10 kg/h. For a given plant size the actual feed rate may strongly depend on the physical properties of the respective feed material. Typical ranges for the feed rates in our lab plants are depicted in the diagram below.
Mini-Distillation Plant KDL 1
Our smallest lab unit is designed for distillation trials and feasibility studies on a smaller scale for batch sizes in the range of 50 g…1 kg. Dependent on the product characteristics, feed rates in the range of 100…400 g /h may be achieved. The maximum evaporator temperature is 250 °C.
Typical fields of application are in research and development, e.g., in order to concentrate temperature-sensitive substances. KDL 1 is the distillation plant of choice whenever small quantities are available only.
Universal Lab Unit KDL 5
The KDL 5 is probably the most flexible and versatile lab unit from UIC. Thanks to its capability and effectiveness, it has become a reference model for the entire industry. Choosing from a broad range of building blocks and variants it may be configured both as a universal multipurpose plant or customized for a specific application. Its strongest footprint is also in research and development labs but there are also many customers who use the KDL 5 as a production plant for applications involving smaller batch sizes (cosmetics, pharma).
Evaporator temperatures may be as high as 350 °C. For highly viscuous materials and substances with high melting points the feed- and discharge systems may be trace heated. We may also offer a fully heatable KDL 5 evaporator with independently heatable zones for the dicharge of distillate and residue.
Automated Lab Unit KDL 5 CADi
If you are dealing with repetitive distillation tasks, the KDL 5 CADi (Computer Aided Distillation) can significantly facilitate and reduce this routine work. Predefined process steps and corresponding parameters are entered in the attached workstation and automatically executed by the KDL 5 CADi. Fractions of the distillate and the residue streams are collected for predefined timeintervals in a sampling carousel.
The KDL 5 CADi uses a fully heatable KDL 5 as a basis which is additionaly equipped with a PLC unit. It is monitored and controlled from an attached workstation with a visualization interface.
Typical fields of application for the KDL 5 CADi include, e.g., systematic characterization of mineral oils and mineral oil residues as well routine distillation tasks in chemistry.
Thinfilm Evaporation Unit DSL 5
Thinfilm evaporators with an external condenser cover pressure ranges from upper fine vacuum up to rough vacuum. Operational pressures are above 1 mbar and evaporator temperatures are up to 250 °C. Apart from the distillation unit, the DSL 5 is built from the same set of components like the KDL 5.
UIC's modular approach also considerably facilitates the configuration of multi-stage plants. A very widespread setup combines a thinfilm unit as a first stage with a shortpath unit as a second stage, e.g., for stripping of large quantities of solvents or high-volatile substances from the feed. A thinfilm evaporator may also act as a reboiler for a fractionation column.
Small Production Unit KDL 10 and KDL 30
KDL 10 and KDL 30 are the "big sisters" of KDL 5 with evaporator temperatures up to 250 °C. They are often used in bigger labs and technical centers.
With the choice of corrosion-resistant materials like hastelloy or tantalum for product-wetted parts, these units are often used for industry-scale production where highly corrosive substances prevent the usage of stainless steel.