DVI/100 | Mini continuous distillation unit

The DVI100 Continuous Distillation Unit from Pignat is a fully instrumented teaching rig for studying the continuous distillation of a water-methanol mixture in a chemical engineering laboratory. It guides students from recognising column internals and preparing a feed solution through to advanced studies of column efficiency and reflux ratio, making distillation theory tangible through hands-on operation. The feed is held in a 9 L PEHD tank and delivered by a magnetic pump through a glass preheater to a glass ND50 column fitted with ten bubble cap trays and a temperature probe. A 1.3 L glass thermosiphon boiler with a 1.3 kW heater drives vapour up the column, while a glass condenser and cooler return distillate to a 5 L receiver. Four Pt100 temperature sensors, a tube manometer for differential column pressure, and floating ball flowmeters spanning a 25 to 250 L/h feed range let users close mass and thermal balances and calculate column yield and hold-up. External reflux is adjusted through needle valves, so students can explore how the operating reflux ratio and feed flow rate influence column performance and overflow conditions. Operation is managed from an electrical cabinet with a digital touch-screen module that displays a real-time synoptic, controls heating power, logs trend history, and exports data over USB. Bestech Australia supplies the DVI100 Continuous Distillation Unit with on-site training and commissioning support available.