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Simulation-based design of a drying and solvent recovery subsystem for hybrid fibre production
The goal of this thesis is to conceptualize and design an economical solvent management subsystem for Antefil’s scaled pilot production plant.
Antefil enables manufacturers of fibre-reinforced plastic structures to exploit more efficient processes by providing affordable and sustainable high-quality preforms made from hybrid fibres - even at large scale.
**Motivation**
Antefil is developing a scaled pilot plant using the bicomponent fibre production method established at CMASLab. This process dissolves the polymer for coating of the individual glass filaments, while they are spun. Scaling this solution route involves challenges related to the use and recovery of the solvent to ensure an efficient and regulations-compliant, closed process at scale. Preceding investigations have identified that the concept, design and dimensioning of the method used to dry the coated fibres (thus evaporating the solvent) are of crucial impact on the efficiency of the overall solvent management process.
Antefil enables manufacturers of fibre-reinforced plastic structures to exploit more efficient processes by providing affordable and sustainable high-quality preforms made from hybrid fibres - even at large scale.
**Motivation** Antefil is developing a scaled pilot plant using the bicomponent fibre production method established at CMASLab. This process dissolves the polymer for coating of the individual glass filaments, while they are spun. Scaling this solution route involves challenges related to the use and recovery of the solvent to ensure an efficient and regulations-compliant, closed process at scale. Preceding investigations have identified that the concept, design and dimensioning of the method used to dry the coated fibres (thus evaporating the solvent) are of crucial impact on the efficiency of the overall solvent management process.
The goal of this thesis is to conceptualize and design an economical solvent management subsystem for Antefil’s scaled pilot production plant. This includes an iterative conceptualization and dimensioning of both the drying stage and a solvent recovery unit to be realized. To evaluate different concepts and aid in dimensioning the systems, suitable computational tools such as chemical process simulation (DWSIM) or multiphysics numerical simulation (COMSOL or Ansys Fluent). The expected result is a range of designs for dryers and solvent recovery units fit to economically manage the solvent recuperation at different scales.
The goal of this thesis is to conceptualize and design an economical solvent management subsystem for Antefil’s scaled pilot production plant. This includes an iterative conceptualization and dimensioning of both the drying stage and a solvent recovery unit to be realized. To evaluate different concepts and aid in dimensioning the systems, suitable computational tools such as chemical process simulation (DWSIM) or multiphysics numerical simulation (COMSOL or Ansys Fluent). The expected result is a range of designs for dryers and solvent recovery units fit to economically manage the solvent recuperation at different scales.
Christoph Schneeberger
CLA E 32.2, Tannenstrasse 3
8092 Zurich, Switzerland
cschneeb@ethz.ch
Christoph Schneeberger CLA E 32.2, Tannenstrasse 3 8092 Zurich, Switzerland cschneeb@ethz.ch