The beginnings of ESCON in the late 90s themed around applied thermodynamics at the departments of process engineering and food technology of the Berlin Technical University, where the two co-founders ran various pilot operations.
Originally conducting factory performance analyses, heat and mass balances and process optimization for the international sugar industry, soon the focus shifted towards process design and technology supply.
ESCON has been established as a limited liability corporation (GmbH) in 2002, with the aim to provide Fractal SMB Chromatography and IEX Purification Technologies for many different industries as worldwide licensee of Amalagamated Research LLC. With over 200 projects completed and more than 80 Fractal-based systems built, including the world’s largest SMB Chromatography system (750 t molasses per day), this partnership has become quite successful.
Over the years, ESCON has expanded its activities into the fields of project management, detail engineering, financing and procurement. Our staff of widely acknowledged experts enables ESCON to offer also complementing technologies like evaporators and complete evaporator stations as well as condensing systems.
Key components and process design are developed in close cooperation with Amalgamated Research LLC , the leading research and development group in the field of separation, mixing and fluid distribution/collection technologies.
ESCON will be your partner throughout your project – starting from concept & process development stage, via engineering and interface management up to complete supply and full onsite support.
From the very beginning it was ESCON’s aim to provide the most efficient liquid separation technologies for customers worldwide. Therefore, ESCON chose to establish the partnership with ARi, the company who has been designing industrial scale Simulated Moving Bed (SMB) CHROMATOGRAPHY technology since the early 80s.
ARi has developed proprietary operating modes to improve SMB performance, including Coupled Loop SMB, where multiple components are separated with high purity and recovery. The use of FRACTAL technology for process intensification in ARi’s CHROMATOGRAPHY systems ensures reliable scale-up and maximizes operating efficiency.
Chromatography is a method for the separation of dissolved components in a mixture. The mixture - also "mobile phase" - carries it through a fixed bed comprising of another material called the "stationary phase" - e.g. resin, silica or other porous material. The various constituents of the mixture travel at different speeds, causing them to separate.
The separation is based on differential partitioning between the mobile and stationary phases due to the physics of adsorption, ion exclusion and/or size exclusion. Subtle differences in a compound's characteristic result in differential retention on the stationary phase and thus affect the separation. A time-controlled draw of the leaving flows results in streams with different product concentrations.
Simulated Moving Bed (SMB) Chromatography is the most advanced and efficient technology for the separation of multiple dissolved components and it is a continuous process. While requiring significantly less elution media than e.g. batch chromatography, SMB is guaranteeing maximum product recovery (yield) and allowing for extremely high product purities.
While multiple applications for SMB Chromatography have already been developed, established and delivered for the food, biobased chemicals, renewables and pharmaceutical industries, YOUR particular process may not be among them.
Let us explore the potentials of this powerful separation technology for your application. Together.
The use of FRACTAL fluid distribution technology in our IEX and ADSORPTION systems helps to maximize process performance and provides unique scalability. While recovering and purifying your valuable compounds is of highest importance, providing a process which protects the resources by reduced utility requirements becomes more relevant every day. The larger the systems the bigger the potential benefits with FRACTAL based systems.
Whether it is high purity battery metals like Lithium required for the increasing number of electric vehicles, fine chemicals production or polishing platform chemicals from renewable sources - multiple applications for Ion Exchange & Adsorption may have already been developed, established and delivered by ESCON.
Wherever your focus is set on - maximum recovery, highest purity or utilities and waste reduction - we will help you to choose the best solution. Contact us and together we can explore the potentials of this powerful purification technology for your application.
Falling Film Tube EVAPORATORS provide minimum pressure loss, smallest effective temperature differences, shortest product residence time and lowest space requirement. For the food industry, processing large quantities of heat sensitive products such as milk, fruit juices and sucrose solutions, Tube Falling Film EVAPORATORS are the most appropriate option.
Additionally, applications in the chemical industry can profit from the compact design and excellent heat transfer of Falling Film Evaporators.
ESCON provides complete solutions: entire Evaporator units, computer based design of all Evaporator details, reliable Product Distributors and proven expertise - especially for applications in the sugar and starch sweetener industry. In order to minimize vapor carry-over, special attention is given to the design of Droplet Separators.
If required by the process or other constraints, ESCON also supplies special Evaporator designs including Rising Film Evaporators, Forced Circulation Evaporators and Flash Evaporators.
ESCON’s scope of supply comprises Single Evaporators or Multi Effect Installations based on detailed heat and mass balances - either on a EPS basis or as a package solution. This includes upgrading and retrofitting of existing vessels or complete stations.
In many thermal processes, vapors have to be condensed or there is a need to create a vacuum. Since its beginnings, ESCON has designed, engineered and built different types of CONDENSERS for various applications.
Condensation is the transformation of a fluid (mostly H2O) from the vapor phase into the liquid phase. This phase transformation happens at a constant pressure and temperature – the saturation point of the fluid.
In technical processes, a temperature gradient is necessary to force vapors into liquid. But for the process economy it is crucial that these required temperature gradients are as small as possible. ESCON’s condensation technologies minimize cooling water flows and electricity requirements on vacuum and cooling water pumps.
Contact or barometric Condensers are the choice when vapors from evaporation or crystallization processes have to be condensed and do not need to be re-used as process condensates. The barometric water, a source for waste heat recovery, cycles through cooling towers.
ESCON’s superior Spray Nozzles are designed to gain approach temperatures of less than 4 °C between vapor (saturated) and barometric water temperature. They can be welded or flanged into Condenser vessels to accomplish different load and capacity tasks during year-round operation (e.g. sugar beet campaign vs. thick juice campaign). Lowest electricity consumption for cooling water and vacuum pumps can be achieved, helping to minimize OPEX of the production cycle.
ESCON’s barometric Condensers can be chosen between separate single condenser vessels or condensation towers, combining different pressure zones in a one tower design. Condensing towers do not need additional steel construction and are installed on high skirts which comprise seal tanks for high and low temperature barometric waters.
If condensed vapors need to be recovered (e.g. as process water), ESCON delivers high performance Surface Condensers (tube & shell). These units can achieve extremely high vacuum and guarantee perfect process water qualities for a year-round operation.
The international Sugar Industry has been a main focus of ESCON's activity since the very beginnings. Numerous projects have been completed and delivered to customers worldwide.
ESCON's Scope of Supply & Services for the Sugar Industry:
ESCON can offer Recovery, Isolation, Enrichment & Purification of target molecules from various feedstocks such as mixtures, fermentation broths or other formulations by means of SMB Chromatography, Adsorption and/or Ion Exchange. Please contact us for more information.
ESCON's Scope of Supply & Services for the Fine Chemicals Industry:
Large flow streams with relatively low concentrations of the target component like e.g. Lithium and REE (Rare Earth Elements) as well as other separations in the field of Hydrometallurgy require reliable and robust equipment that performs at any scale and operating condition.
ESCON is supplying adsorption columns of different sizes for various customers in the Lithium and other markets – from pilot testing to large scale technical plants operated in severe environments.
The use of ESCON’s columns with ARi’s Fractal fluid distribution and collection systems have proven to increase recovery and reduce elution water requirements due to maximized adsorbent utilization.
ESCON's Scope of Supply & Services for the Battery Metals Industry:
ESCON is supplying custom chromatography systems for the separation of various biobased organic acids and platform chemicals, including acetic acid, citric acid, succinic acid, lactic acid, and more. Platform Chemicals from Biobased feedstocks such as fermentation products can be separated and enriched into high quality products.
ESCON's Scope of Supply & Services for the Biobased Chemicals Industry:
Fructose Enrichment by means of SMB Chromatography has been one of the very first applications for ARi's Fractal Technology. Today, continuous improvement in equipment technology, control and resin optimization allow to produce HFS95 and even HFS98 at significantly reduced water requirements. Further fixed bed processes like Inversion, Demineralization, Isomerization and Decolorization in combination with Fractal equipment technology complement the scope that ESCON can provide.
ESCON's Scope of Supply & Services for the Starch / HFS Production Industry:
