This thing might be still listed on eBay(#171014876951).
It looks like some kind of trap, but I can't figure out where the prize would go. I will try to include a couple of photos. It's pretty clear that
it's incomplete; something has been broken off below the tiny condenser.
I am a kind of Kontes fan, and they tread on some pretty strange turf, sometimes. Extremely low priority, just curious as to what this thing did, or
could do.
Anybody know what this is? I'd like to know. I'll appreciate any comments (pretty much), or actual definitional dissertational dog-do.
[Edited on 19-9-2013 by CaptainPike]watson.fawkes - 19-9-2013 at 07:02
It's pretty clear that it's incomplete; something has been broken off below the tiny condenser.
No, that
stub at the bottom is flame polished. It's also the product take-off. Note that the condensate appears inside the coil and is externally cooled; see
where the barb connectors for the coolant are.
If I had to guess, this unit is for condensing out the lowest-boiling fraction of a mixture. The configuration of an ordinary fractionating column
takes off the highest-boiling one. I imagine that this could be used with a second condenser that returns everything else to the still pot; there's a
taper joint on the top of the condenser. The condenser isn't fractionating and has a limited fluid path, so you'd use this to extract a low boiling
fraction that occurs at low concentration in the still pot, and which has a significant difference in boiling point from the bulk of the material.CaptainPike - 19-9-2013 at 13:22
I tried to imagine something like that. But what is going to cause a low boiling vapor to move down into that lower aperture coil? I
know, I know, the cold – maybe. Remember, it's probably being chased up that bigger gauge piping from the still pot.
Additionally, if we have a vertically oriented condenser connected at that 14/20, wouldn't its condensate simply drizzle down into the little
condenser? Unless you meant that an angled still head were fixed to the top, at that 14/20 joint, with the higher boiling condenser sloping downward.
That might rid the system of a high boiling point fraction.
I'm still not convinced that "take off" isn't a broken off part. Check out this photo.
You may be absolutely right and I like your idea. Maybe I should try to buy it, and experiment with it. Thanks for your response.
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[Edited on 19.9.13 by bfesser]watson.fawkes - 19-9-2013 at 14:44
But what is going to cause a low boiling vapor to move down into that lower aperture coil? I know, I know, the cold – maybe. Remember,
it's probably being chased up that bigger gauge piping from the still pot.
As always, what causes a fluid to
move is ΔP, a change in pressure from one place to another. In a sealed system, condensing a vapor removes some of it and lowers the
pressure locally, creating a pressure gradient and causing mass flow. In this case, the condenser is pretty small, so I'd guess that its for some kind
of continuous process where per-pass condensation efficiency isn't paramount.
As for the condenser take-off, I'm a bit surprised that there's not a taper joint at the bottom. It's pretty clearly meant to be used with tubing,
which means that the condensate may not be the product, as I implied earlier, but rather is returned elsewhere in the system.
That bottom stub really is flame polished. There's a specular reflection at the very end from the lighting. If that were a broken-off piece with a
sharp edge, there wouldn't be that reflection there.
