Investigation on the effect of different supercritical fluid extraction process on the activation of the R-134 catalyst

During the past decades, supercritical fluids due to their unique properties gained an increasingly attention in the different area of chemical engineering industries. One of the most attracted areas supercritical fluids are used is extraction. In the present work, the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) process was utilized to activate the deactivated platinum based catalyst regeneration unit with commercial name of R-134. In other words, the aim of the present work was to assess the possibility of R-134 catalyst regeneration using supercritical fluid extraction. In this direction, different parameters influences including, carbon dioxide flow rate (0.06–0.70 cm3/min), extraction static time (45–105 min), extraction pressure (100–200 bar) and extraction temperature (313.15–343.15 K) were investigated. The obtained results show that the optimum parameters were extraction temperature and pressure of 343.15 and 200 bar respectively, static time of 90 min and carbon dioxide flow rate of 0.076 cm3/min to have the highest extraction value. In addition, the obtained results show that the thermodynamic factors including extraction temperature and pressure had an interesting effect on the extracted amount of the poisonous materials.

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► Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) was applied to activate deactivated catalyst.
► CO2 flow rate, static time, extraction pressure and temperature effects were tested.
► Results showed greater effects of temperature and pressure on catalyst activation.
► Obtained results revealed successfulness of catalyst activation using SFE.