The facilities available at the Mass and Heat Transfer Process Laboratory are grouped by research applications: Facilities for catalytic studies, membrane studies, separation studies, heat transfer studies, industrial waste stream utilization, computational methods, laboratory exercise equipments, analysators and other facilities.
For further information, contact laboratory manager Esa Muurinen (Esa.Muurinen(at)oulu.fi).

Facilities for catalytic studies

Facilities for membrane studies

Facilities for separation studies

Facilities for heat transfer studies

Facilities for industrial waste streams utilisation

Computational methods

Laboratory exercise equipments

Analysators and other facilities

FACILITIES FOR CATALYTIC STUDIES

The set-up for the catalytic activity
measurements

The experimental set-up is used in the catalysts activity, selectivity and yield studies. The temperature can be raised up to 900°C.

Analyses are done with Gasmet^(TM) FTIR-analyzer and by chemiluminescence based oxygen analyzer. The equipment is partially automatized and controlled by LabView software.

Micromeritics ASAP2020

The ASAP2020 surface analyser for BET-surface area, pore size and volume as well as dispersion studies.

The equipment is used in characterisation of catalysts specific surface area, pore size and volume by N₂ adsorption at -195°C. It can use also to determine the precious metal group metals dispersion by CO or H₂ chemisorption.

Catalytic oxidation equipment for sulphur-containing VOCs

The set-up can be used in conventional catalyst testing experimets such as in light-off, activity and ageing experiments. The system can be modified easily for other purposes as well. Possibility to feed gases and liquids.

The analyses are done by continuous gas chromatograph (detectors: FID and FPD).

Catalytic oxidation equipment for chlorine-containing VOCs

The structural materials of the set-up stand corrosive conditions. The equipment is designed for light-off, activity and ageing tests. Due to the materials, the maximum operating temperature is 600°C. The possibility to feed multiple gases and liquids is available. Analyses are done by gas-FTIR.

Set-up for catalysts ageing studies

The set-up for catalysts deactivation studies. With the apparatus the catalysts can be poisoned or aged by various harmful componets such as sulphur, phosphorus, and others, to study the effects on the catalyst activity.

Equipment for photocatalysis

The set-up is used in photocatalytic studies for purification of organic waste from water. The quarz glass reactor is surrounded by six Hg UV-lamps with maximum at the wavelength of 360-380 nm.

FACILITIES FOR MEMBRANE STUDIES

Pervaporation/membrane filtration

The laboratory-scale equipment (P28, Celfa) for micro, ultra and nanofiltration and reverse osmosis and pervaporation.

Membrane effective area is 28 cm² and the maximum volume of the apparatus is 500 cm³.

Pervaporation unit

Dead-end pervaporation unit with flat membrane module. Separation and dehydration of organic compounds form aqueous solutions and separation of organic mixtures.

The membrane effective area is 78.5 cm² and the tank capacity is 1 liter.

Ultrafiltration stirred cells

The ultrafiltration stirred cell is a dead-end unit designed for rapid concentration or purification of macromolecular solution up to 400 cm³. The ultrafiltration membranes used are flat sheet membranes with an effective area of 41.8 cm². The maximum pressure recommended is 4 bar.

Pilot-scale tubular membrane unit

The tubular membrane unit for micro, ultra and nanofiltration as well as reverse osmosis. The maximum volume of the apparatus is up from 10 liters, and the maximum pressure can be up to 55 bars.

Membrane filtration units

The laboratory-scale Millipore Pellicon and Prostak equipments are in use in micro and ultrafiltrations.

The membrane area is from 0.5 to 2.5 m², depending on how many cassettes (1-5) are used.

FACILITIES FOR SEPARATION STUDIES

Fraction distillation column

The distillation column for separation of different liquid mixtures.

The column operates at pressure range of 1 to 1013 mbar up to 150°C. The diameter of the column is 5 cm having 24 Oldershaw-sieve plates.

Micro distillation unit

A laboratory scale micro distillation unit for the distillation of liquids, for example the fractionation of aromatic and ethereal oils from plants.

The set-up contains a filling plate colon (diameter 15 mm, height 60 cm, hold-up of the colon 12-18 cm³, maximum 40 theoretical stages) and a heating batch of the containers (250, 500, 1000 cm³) up to 200°C. The reflux ratio is controlled automatically.

EBA-equipments
in laboratory and pilot scale

Expanded bed adsorption equipments (EBA) which are used for separating proteins by chromatography technique from complex solutions such as fermenter solutions, industrial waste streams or other solutions containing proteins.

The analyses are done by UV-monitors.

Evaporation units

A laboratory have two evaporation units - laboratory scale and pilot scale - for the concentration of liquids.

The bigger one in the picture have the maximum of 5 liter per batch, altough the continuous evaporation is possible.

The smaller unit have the batch size of 0.5 liters.

Supercritical fluid extraction unit

The pilot-scale supercritical CO₂ extraction equipment for extraction of e.g. essential oils from plants, separation of seed oils and extraction of peat.

The maximum extraction pressure is 500 bars and temperature 150°C. The extraction fluid can be circulated.

FACILITIES FOR HEAT TRANSFER STUDIES

Fouling test apparatus

Test rig is build for the studies of fouling in heat exchanger. In test system can be used mildly aggressive process fluids between pH 4 and 11, and which will have tendency to foul surfaces.

Test fluid can contain particles 1–50 wt-% size of 0.2–2 micron and/or crystallizing salts. Test surface can be heated up to 130°C. In the test section a test piece (200 mm x 100 mm) can be changed and that enables to study different surface materials. Test area is rectangle flow channel and heated surfaces are parallel which enables to test two samples at the same fouling cycle. One test run takes 1-4 days and the appratus control is automatised. As a measure of fouling Rf, which is thermal resistance caused by deposited layer (fouling) will be monitored.

FACILITIES FOR INDUSTRIAL WASTE STREAMS UTILISATION

Gas reduction equipment

In this apparatus it is possible to study different gas and solid feedstock as a function of temperature. The equipment is flexible and suitable e.g. for catalyst study.

The equipment has been used in reforming and DRI (direct reduction of iron) studies.

The furnaces can be heated up to 1500°C and the analyses are done with FTIR and separate oxygen and hydrogen analysers.

Stirred tank reactor

Laboratory scale stirred tank reactor for methanol synthesis and CO₂ utilisation studies

The equipment can be pressurized from up to 30 atm within the temperature range of 20 to 315°C.

COMPUTATIONAL METHODS

CFD

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used to determine the behaviour of heat and fluids in certain geometry. The calculations are utilised in several studies as a supporting tool.

The figure represents temperature field between two corrugated heat exchanger surfaces

HSC CHEMISTRY®

HSC Chemistry® 6.0 is designed for chemical reactions and equilibrium calculations. Thermochemical calculations are useful for example in developing new chemical processes and improving the existing ones.
The program is utilised e.g. in the estimation of the influence of several variables on the chemical system equilibrium in the case of reforming the metallurgical industry process gases.

ASPEN PLUS®

AspenPlus® is used in evaluation of the technical, economical and enviromental impacts of e.g. different hydrogen production processes.

LABORATORY EXCERCISE EQUIPMENTS

Tray dryer

With the equipment you can follow the drying speed of moist sand by following the weight lost of the sand as a function of the time. The sand is staying on a tray which is in air flowing through the equipment. The tray is in connection with the scales. The air flow speed and the air temperature are controllable.

Distillation column

A packed column with 5 mm glass ring packings. The heights of the stripping and rectifying sections are 100 cm and 120 cm, respectively. The inner diameter of the column is 5 cm.  The column is operated manually and it has been used for distillation of water-ethanol mixture.

Shell and tube heat exchanger

Laboratory model of a shell and tube exchanger. The shell is made of glass with seven copper tubes (1 m) inside. The heat transfer area is 0.5 m². The equipment is connected with cold stream (min +4°C) on the shell side, the warm district heated water (max +60 °C) streams on the tube side. Maximum flow is 25 l/min on both sides. Temperatures are measured on the input and output points.

ANALYSATORS AND OTHER FACILITIES

GC/MS-ATD

Thermal desorption is a technique that extracts volatiles from a non-volatile matrix by heating the matrix/sample in a stream of inert gas. The extracted volatiles are subsequently refocused onto a cold trap from which they are transferred in a narrow band to a gas chromatographic column for analysis. The GC/MS is composed of two major building blocks: the gas chromatograph and the mass selective detector. The gas chromatograph is used to separate mixture into components. The mass selective detector separately detects components from the gas chromatograph.

Autoclave (FINN-AQUA)
Gas chromatography (Agilent 6890N)
Gel electrophoresis (Pharmacia LKB: PhastSystem)
Kjeldahl-digestor unit (FOSS TECATOR 2020 Digestor)
Kjeldahl-distillation unit (FOSS TECATOR 2200 Kjeltec Auto distillation)
Laminar cabin (Holten LaminAir)
Mass selective detector (Agilent 5973)
Sentrifuge (Heraeus Biofuge pico)
Sentrifuge (Sorvall RC5B Plus)
Spectrophotometer UV and visible light (Beckman DU640i)
Viscometer (Brookfield DV-I)