RDKit-parsed partition marker molecules
Docker-Generated Product Recovery Screen
Product Separation Lab
A 3D recovery lab for oil, aqueous phase, char, gas, solvent bias, emulsion risk, contaminant partitioning, and mass-balance closure.
recovery operations scored
top individual recovery operation
modeled aqueous-to-oil mass ratio after HTL
Oil/water interface branch. Targets fatty acids, amides, phenolics, salts, and fine solids that can hide oil in stable emulsions.
pH, salt, and demulsifier jar test Bench/pilot support
Cheap bench tests can identify whether fatty acids, salts, pH, fine solids, or polar nitrogen species are locking emulsions.
Dose response, oil quality impact, aqueous COD shift, metals/PFAS movement, and scale-up transfer to centrifuge/coalescer settings.Coalescer / electrostatic emulsion treater Design option
Fatty acids, amides, phenolics, ash, and fine char can stabilize emulsions that inflate or hide oil yield.
Droplet-size distribution, salt/pH sensitivity, residence, temperature, recovered-water quality, and oil dryness.Two-stage centrifugation Pilot/process design
Centrifugation is the practical bridge between oil yield and an oil product that can feed upgrading.
G-force, temperature, residence, water in oil, oil in water, solids carryover, and bowl fouling.Char filtration and oil-on-solids wash Bench/pilot required
Unrecovered oil on hydrochar can make a bad separator look like a low-yield reactor and can misstate residual hazards.
Oil-on-char, solids moisture, PFAS/metals/phosphorus partitioning, wash method, and residual leachability.Green solvent extraction benchmark Bench benchmark
Solvent extraction reveals recoverable organics and solvent-selective chemistry, but it should benchmark rather than define continuous product yield.
Solvent choice, recovery, residual solvent, extracted nitrogen, oil quality bias, and whether solvent-assisted yield can be matched physically.Inline mass-balance sampling manifold Pilot-critical
A separator cannot be optimized unless every stream is sampled with consistent temperature, pressure, and phase handling.
Sampling point design, hot/cold protocols, replicate closure, solids capture, gas/condensate accounting, and custody blanks.The Docker selection model picks Two-stage centrifugation + Inline mass-balance sampling manifold + Hydrocyclone plus gravity separator + Hot three-phase separator + Coalescer / electrostatic emulsion treater + Aqueous organics and PFAS split assay as the first recovery package. Pyomo-formulated six-operation recovery package with oil, char, emulsion, aqueous, data, solvent-minimization, contaminant, safety, and capex gates; solved by deterministic enumeration.
Current recovery decision
Treat reported oil yield as unproven until the phase split closes
The generated screen ranks two-stage centrifugation first and selects a solvent-minimized recovery package. Solvent extraction stays useful as a benchmark, but the first pilot recovery train should prove physical oil recovery, emulsion control, aqueous contaminant closure, and oil-on-char losses before product claims are promoted.
25% dry-sludge oil-yield screen before recovery loss.
The water-side stream dominates separator hydraulics and contaminant closure.
Solids and gas must be metered to keep oil yield from becoming a loose estimate.
Oil/water interface branch
64.5Emulsion control branch
Targets fatty acids, amides, phenolics, salts, and fine solids that can hide oil in stable emulsions.
- Oil recovery
- 68.7
- Emulsion
- 69.3
- Solvent
- 81
- Contaminants
- 72.7
First pilot recovery train
62.6Solvent-minimized pilot
Prioritizes physical recovery, emulsion control, gas closure, solids rejection, and aqueous contaminant accounting before routine solvents.
- Oil recovery
- 57.2
- Emulsion
- 51.8
- Solvent
- 92.2
- Contaminants
- 71.2
Catalyst protection branch
61.2Upgrading feed protection
Focuses on solids, salts, metals, water, and contaminant carryover before hydrotreating.
- Oil recovery
- 49.3
- Emulsion
- 43.7
- Solvent
- 92
- Contaminants
- 77
Analytical calibration branch
59.2Solvent benchmark
Uses solvent extraction to reveal recoverable organics and chemical bias while keeping solvent recovery and safety visible.
- Oil recovery
- 57.3
- Emulsion
- 50
- Solvent
- 71.7
- Contaminants
- 83
Generated recovery package
Pyomo-gated six-operation separator package
Two-stage centrifugation
G-force, temperature, residence, water in oil, oil in water, solids carryover, and bowl fouling.
Inline mass-balance sampling manifold
Sampling point design, hot/cold protocols, replicate closure, solids capture, gas/condensate accounting, and custody blanks.
Hydrocyclone plus gravity separator
Oil loss to solids, organics on hydrochar, underflow oil content, split repeatability, and residence sensitivity.
Hot three-phase separator
Residence time, pressure control, interface level, solids dropout, hot oil recovery, and gas disengagement.
Coalescer / electrostatic emulsion treater
Droplet-size distribution, salt/pH sensitivity, residence, temperature, recovered-water quality, and oil dryness.
Aqueous organics and PFAS split assay
COD/TOC, ammonia, phenolics, pyridines, PFAS targets/suspects, oil droplets, and biological-treatment compatibility.
Partition markers
Which molecules can distort oil, water, char, and emulsion accounting
Phenol C6H6O
- Oil
- 63.4
- Aqueous
- 57.2
- Char
- 39.6
- Emulsion
- 78
Caprolactam C6H11NO
- Oil
- 45.7
- Aqueous
- 68.8
- Char
- 20.7
- Emulsion
- 78
PFOA C7HF13O2
- Oil
- 95.9
- Aqueous
- 37.8
- Char
- 45.2
- Emulsion
- 78
Indole C8H7N
- Oil
- 81.2
- Aqueous
- 38.8
- Char
- 58.7
- Emulsion
- 74
Palmitic acid C16H32O2
- Oil
- 100
- Aqueous
- 18.6
- Char
- 52.2
- Emulsion
- 54
Oleic acid C18H34O2
- Oil
- 100
- Aqueous
- 12.5
- Char
- 54.4
- Emulsion
- 54
Acetic acid C2H4O2
- Oil
- 35.8
- Aqueous
- 78.7
- Char
- 18.4
- Emulsion
- 54
Ammonia H3N
- Oil
- 37.3
- Aqueous
- 76.9
- Char
- 18.6
- Emulsion
- 54
Pyridine C5H5N
- Oil
- 60.6
- Aqueous
- 49.5
- Char
- 38.3
- Emulsion
- 52
Toluene C7H8
- Oil
- 75.9
- Aqueous
- 26.1
- Char
- 42
- Emulsion
- 48
Phosphoric acid H3O4P
- Oil
- 13.4
- Aqueous
- 100
- Char
- 18
- Emulsion
- 40
Dodecane C12H26
- Oil
- 100
- Aqueous
- 0
- Char
- 49.7
- Emulsion
- 24
Operation ledger
Recovery operations must close yield, solvent, and contaminant ledgers together
Oil / solids / water polishing70.3
Two-stage centrifugation
Centrifugation is the practical bridge between oil yield and an oil product that can feed upgrading.
- Oil
- 84
- Char
- 82
- Emulsion
- 66
- Solvent
- 94
Measurement infrastructure67.3
Inline mass-balance sampling manifold
A separator cannot be optimized unless every stream is sampled with consistent temperature, pressure, and phase handling.
- Oil
- 30
- Char
- 58
- Emulsion
- 54
- Solvent
- 100
Solvent-minimized oil recovery67.2
Hydrocyclone plus gravity separator
Continuous sludge HTL precedent uses physical separation to avoid routine DCM-style batch extraction.
- Oil
- 78
- Char
- 78
- Emulsion
- 54
- Solvent
- 96
Primary split65.7
Hot three-phase separator
A hot separator gives the first defensible oil, water, solid, and gas split before quench artifacts dominate.
- Oil
- 80
- Char
- 56
- Emulsion
- 58
- Solvent
- 92
Solids closure64.8
Char filtration and oil-on-solids wash
Unrecovered oil on hydrochar can make a bad separator look like a low-yield reactor and can misstate residual hazards.
- Oil
- 68
- Char
- 92
- Emulsion
- 42
- Solvent
- 76
Emulsion control62.6
Coalescer / electrostatic emulsion treater
Fatty acids, amides, phenolics, ash, and fine char can stabilize emulsions that inflate or hide oil yield.
- Oil
- 76
- Char
- 44
- Emulsion
- 90
- Solvent
- 88
Upgrading feed protection61.9
Oil polishing filter and guard bed
Fine char, ash, metals, and salts can poison hydrotreating catalysts and distort oil property measurements.
- Oil
- 72
- Char
- 86
- Emulsion
- 50
- Solvent
- 90
Bench separation control61.4
pH, salt, and demulsifier jar test
Cheap bench tests can identify whether fatty acids, salts, pH, fine solids, or polar nitrogen species are locking emulsions.
- Oil
- 66
- Char
- 34
- Emulsion
- 88
- Solvent
- 86
Analytical benchmark60.5
Green solvent extraction benchmark
Solvent extraction reveals recoverable organics and solvent-selective chemistry, but it should benchmark rather than define continuous product yield.
- Oil
- 88
- Char
- 64
- Emulsion
- 76
- Solvent
- 42
Aqueous contaminant ledger58
Aqueous organics and PFAS split assay
Recovered oil is not the only product; HTL-aq carries COD, ammonia, polar organics, PFAS, and treatment inhibition risk.
- Oil
- 24
- Char
- 28
- Emulsion
- 30
- Solvent
- 92
Gas closure45
Gas knockout and metering
Gas mass and composition are required for energy balance, safety, carbon accounting, and pressure letdown design.
- Oil
- 18
- Char
- 24
- Emulsion
- 20
- Solvent
- 100
Solvent control42.9
Solvent recovery still
Any solvent-assisted recovery must close solvent losses, safety, oil contamination, and waste streams.
- Oil
- 62
- Char
- 28
- Emulsion
- 48
- Solvent
- 30
separation-pilot-continuous-2020
Continuous pilot-scale sewage-sludge HTL energy and micropollutant fate
Continuous-flow pilot context for product streams, energy accounting, and micropollutant fate.
Open sourceseparation-solvent-extracted-2022
Hydrotreatment of solvent-extracted municipal sewage-sludge biocrude
Solvent choice strongly changed recovered biocrude yield, nitrogen recovery, hydrotreating behavior, catalyst deactivation, and product quality.
Open sourceseparation-mdpi-selective-2025
Selective extraction and hydrotreatment of biocrude from sewage sludge
2025 solvent-extraction and hydrotreatment study showing solvent-dependent yields, fatty-acid profiles, nitrogen retention, and upgraded oil quality.
Open sourceseparation-bagasse-solvent-2026
Enhanced multi-step solvent extraction for fractionated HTL bio-oil
2026 extraction-method lead showing sequential solvent extraction can raise separation efficiency, useful as an analytical benchmark rather than sludge-scale proof.
Open sourceseparation-solventless-fecal-2024
Separation of HTL biocrude from faecal sludge without solvent
Solventless fecal-sludge separation precedent supporting solvent-minimized recovery experiments for sanitation-derived feedstocks.
Open sourceseparation-tea-2023
Sewage-sludge HTL TEA with separator and centrifugation train
Process design source describing separator outputs, oil-sand emulsion handling, startup solvent use, and two-stage centrifugation.
Open sourceseparation-waste-streams-2023
Sludge-to-energy HTL and waste-stream management
Waste-stream source for aqueous volume, hydrochar phosphorus, heavy metals, and product distribution management.
Open sourceseparation-review-2026
Hydrothermal liquefaction of sewage sludge comprehensive review
Recent review covering extraction methods, solvents, biocrude yield, aqueous phase, hydrochar, and byproduct valorization.
Open sourceseparation-sludge-review-2026
Municipal sludge HTL biocrude production and fuel-quality upgrading
2026 municipal-sludge HTL review emphasizing fuel-quality upgrading, byproduct use, and integration gaps.
Open sourceseparation-aqueous-treatment-2025
Continuous activated-sludge treatment of sewage-sludge HTL process water
HTL aqueous treatment source for return-load, nitrification, and pollutant removal considerations.
Open sourceseparation-aqueous-frontiers-2025
Effects of the HTL aqueous phase on activated sludge
WRRF compatibility source for process-water treatment and biological response.
Open sourceseparation-pfas-literature-2025
Municipal biosolids PFAS treatment literature review
PFAS literature review supporting contaminant partition checks across oil, aqueous, char, and residual streams.
Open sourceseparation-assay-2025
Analytical release methods for sewage-derived oil and residuals
Analytical context for paired stream sampling, oil quality, residuals, and fuel-readiness evidence.
Open sourceseparation-severity-2020
Fast and isothermal sludge HTL products, pathways, and kinetics
Severity and product-yield source for oil, aqueous, solid, gas, and nitrogen distribution.
Open sourceoil yield is not a product claim until oil, aqueous, char, gas, solvent, emulsion, contaminants, and mass closure are measured