AVEKA proposes the use of one of its proprietary leaching processes to dehydrate water-wet pelletized nitrocellulose (PNC). This is a process which will be safe, economical and will allow continuous processing during the dehydration step in the pelletization process. It is also a process that can utilize standard industrial leaching/extraction equipment with some modifications. The successful completion of this phase I research will be the adaptation of the AVEKA process to process the water-wet nitrocellulose into heptane dispersion without exposure to high temperatures and without changing the product characteristics. Phase II of this research will scale-up this process to production for integration into the present Navy facility for this process.
Benefits: The potential commercial applications for this water extraction technique are industries which presently deal with temperature sensitive materials and have a need to dehydrate or dry them. This process will be adapted for usage in the pharmaceutical and biochemical industries to dehydrate drugs and biologically derived materials which undergo decomposition at high temperatures.
Keywords: nitrocellulose, pelletized, leaching, dehydration, extraction, continuous processing
