Separation Process Principles

Separation is a method to achieve any mass transfer phenomenon that converts a mixture of substances into two or more distinct product mixtures, at least one of which is enriched in one or more of the mixture’s constituents. In some cases, a separation may fully divide the mixture into its pure constituents. Separations are carried out based on differences in chemical properties or physical properties such as size, shape, mass, density, or chemical affinity, between the constituents of a mixture. The separation can be done on a small scale, effectively a laboratory scale for analytical or preparative purposes, or on a large scale, effectively an industrial scale for preparative purposes, or on some intermediate scale. This book presents comprehensive and up-to-date treatment of the major separation operations in the chemical industry.