MATERIALS HANDLING
A SOLVENT BUSINESS T
Demand for sustainable recycled products has kick-started a growth in solvent recovery capacity
he push for emission reduction and recycled products has led waste treatment specialist Veolia
to increase its capacity for recycling of used solvents, waste paint thinners and solvent based paint to 86,000 tonnes a year to meet the growing demand for more sustainable industrial products. The company has expanded its
facility, at Garston in Liverpool to create new products as an alternative to virgin solvents, to enable reuse in industries like pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, paint, agrochemicals and cement manufacture.
WHAT IS SOLVENT RECYCLING? Solvent recycling is the process of recovering and reusing processed solvents. It is used for a variety of products including hand sanitiser,
alcohol, and other solvent-based solutions. Solvent waste can be altered back into a virgin-like solvent and the process reduces the volume of hazardous waste.
SOLVENT RECOVERY METHODS There are various distillation processes used to recover solvents. Distillation involves the conversion of a liquid into a vapor through boiling and condensing the substance back into liquid form through cooling. The following are the best known methods: 1) Simple distillation – the separation of a liquid from a solid-liquid solution. The process, used for mixtures containing one volatile component, is energy efficient and cheaper than other options.
2) Fractional distillation – a popular method that separates a liquid from a solution of two or more mixable
liquids. Fractional distillation is able to separate mixtures into high-quality recycled solvents.
3) Flash distillation – this heats liquids to the same boiling point and separates the solvent from residue, for use in paint manufacture. Veolia uses this method then transports organic residues to a specialist facility to be blended into secondary liquid fuel, used as an alternative to fossil fuels for cement and lime kilns.
4) Steam and vacuum distillation – these are other techniques used within the solvent recovery process. Steam can generate organic solvent-free products and vacuum distillation helps distil heavier objects and volatile compounds. Veolia uses a combination of
methods including flash and fractional in a multi-stage operation. All loads are sampled and
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