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There are multiple process design questions that must be answered to properly define a steam stripping application, such as: What impact will the hydrocarbons and their range of respective concentrations have on the separation? Does the wastewater have a foaming tendency? Does the wastewater tend to foul equipment? The answers to these questions can be developed through pilot testing.

By processing drum quantities of ‘actual’ wastewater, developed in our customer’s processes, a real world understanding of the stripping process characteristics (foaming tendency, fouling propensity, impact of ‘bad players’ and overall operating stability) can be determined. Often, several different wastewater feeds are provided, representing a range of worst case conditions for design.

Pilot plant equipment setups are customized for each of our clients’ unique steam stripping applications. Test plans are established, with the input of our clients, to maximize the benefit of the development activities. All while, KMPS’s process development capabilities and insightful pilot plant staff strive to answer the design questions of your wastewater stripper application.

Steam stripping is a common mass transfer technique implemented to meet EPA regulations such as PEG and NESHAP; including HON and MON. Volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) can easily be stripped from an aqueous stream if they have lower boiling points than water or if they have limited solubility in water. Once stripped from the wastewater, VOC’s can be concentrated in the rectification section of the column, reducing the volume of VOC’s sent to disposal.

Below is a partial list of compounds that KMPS has successfully removed with steam strippers:
 

Alcohols	Methanol, ethanol, propanols, butanols, amyl alcohol
Ketones	MEK, acetone, MIBK
Aromatics	Benzene, toluene, xylenes, styrene, cumene, alpha methyl styrene, ethylbenzene, naphthalenes
Aliphatics	Hexane, heptane, cyclohexane
Acetates	Methyl acetate, ethyl acetate, propyl and butyl acetates, amyl acetate
Chlorinated Hydrocarbons	Methylene chloride (dichloromethane), chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, ethylene dichloride, TCE's
Others	Acetaldehyde, acetonitrile, ammonia, dioxane, formaldehyde, H2S, HCN, isopropyl ether, TEA, THF