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Overview of Separation Processes

This document provides an introduction to separation processes. It defines separation as isolating a mixture into its constituent parts. Separation processes transform mixtures into distinct products. Common separation techniques include enrichment, purification, refining, and isolation. Separations are important for chemists and chemical engineers. Almost every substance is found impure and often needs to be separated. Chemical plants rely heavily on separation equipment, investing 50-90% of capital in separators. Separations are difficult due to thermodynamics favoring mixtures, but can be achieved by enhancing mass transfer rates or exploiting differences in physical/chemical properties between substances. Common separation techniques include using phase changes, adding a mass separating agent, employing barriers, or applying forces. The appropriate separation process

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ANIS ATIKAH AHMAD
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72 views9 pages

Overview of Separation Processes

This document provides an introduction to separation processes. It defines separation as isolating a mixture into its constituent parts. Separation processes transform mixtures into distinct products. Common separation techniques include enrichment, purification, refining, and isolation. Separations are important for chemists and chemical engineers. Almost every substance is found impure and often needs to be separated. Chemical plants rely heavily on separation equipment, investing 50-90% of capital in separators. Separations are difficult due to thermodynamics favoring mixtures, but can be achieved by enhancing mass transfer rates or exploiting differences in physical/chemical properties between substances. Common separation techniques include using phase changes, adding a mass separating agent, employing barriers, or applying forces. The appropriate separation process

Uploaded by

ANIS ATIKAH AHMAD
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Introduction to Separation

Processes
What is Separation and Separation
Processes ?
• Separate (definition from a dictionary)
- to isolate from a mixture; [extract]
- to divide into constituent parts

• Separation process
- In chemistry and chemical engineering, a separation process is used
to transform a mixture of substances into two or more distinct products.
- The specific separation design may vary depending on what
chemicals are being separated, but the basic design principles for a
given separation method are always the same.
Separations
• Separations includes
– Enrichment - Concentration
– Purification - Refining
– Isolation
• Separations are important to chemist & chemical engineers
– Chemist: analytical separation methods,
small-scale preparative separation techniques
– Chemical engineers: economical, large scale separation methods
Why Separation Processes are
Important ?
• Almost every element or compound is found naturally in an impure
state such as a mixture of two or more substances. Many times the
need to separate it into its individual components arises.
• A typical chemical plant is a chemical reactor surrounded by separators.
Separators

Products

Reactor Separator
Raw
materials

Separation
and
purification
By-products

• Chemical plants commonly have 50-90% of their capital invested in


separation equipments.
Why Separation is Difficult to Occur?

• Second law of thermodynamics


- Substances are tend to mix together naturally and spontaneously
- All natural processes take place to increase the entropy, or
randomness, of the universe
- To separate a mixture of species into products of different
composition, we must supply the equivalent of energy (heat or work)
How Separations are Achieved?
• Enhancing the mass transfer rate of certain species
• Rate of Separation: how fast ?
– Governed by mass transfer (Rate-controlled separation)
• Extent of Separation: how far ?
– Limited by thermodynamics (Equilibrium-staged separation)
• Properties of Importance
Molecular Properties Thermodynamic and Transport Properties
Molecular weight Vapor pressure
van der Waals volume Solubility
van der Waals area Adsorptivity
Molecular shape (Acentric factor) Diffusivity
Dipole moment
Polarizability
Dielectric constant
Electric charge
Radius of gyration

Data sources: Handbooks, journals, electronic databases, commercial process simulators


General Separation Techniques
Phase 1 Phase 1

Feed Phase Feed


creation
MSA
Phase 2 (Mass separating agent) Phase 2

(a) By phase creation (b) By phase addition


Phase 1

Feed Barrier

Feed Phase 2 Phase 1


(c) By barrier
Phase 1 Feed Force field
Solid agent or gradient

Phase 2 Phase 2

(d) By solid agent (e) By force field or gradient


Which Separation Process Will You
Choose?
• There are numerous approaches for separation.

(1) Supply heat and boil water off, condensing the water at a lower
temperature.
(2) Supply refrigeration and freeze out pure ice, melting the ice at a
higher temperature.
(3) Pump the water to a higher pressure and force it through a thin
solid membrane.
⇒ Consider product requirement, cost, environmental
effects, etc.
Technological and Use Maturities of
Separation Processes

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