Reference no: EM132052254

Fresh halibut livers containing 25.7% oil are to be extracted with pure ethyl ether to remove 95% of the oil in a counter current multistage leaching process. The feed rate is 1000 kg of fresh livers per hour. The final exit overflow solution is to contain 70wt% oil. The retention of solution by inert solids (oil-free liver) of the liver varies as follows, where N is kg inert (solid/kg) solution retained and yA is kg oil/kg solution.

N            y

4.88      0

3.50      0.2

2.47      0.4

1.67      0.6

1.39      0.81

Calculate the amounts and compositions of the exit streams and the total number of theoretical stages.