Chapter Two

Introduction to Industrial Separation

Processes

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 Introduction to Separation Process
Separation processes developed by early
civilizations, Examples:
Extraction
• Extraction of metals from ores
• Perfumes from flowers
• Dyes from plants
Evaporation
• Evaporation of sea water to obtain salt.
Distillation
• Distilling of liquors
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 Introduction to Separation Process
• In almost all chemical, bioprocess and related processes,
separation processes are integral part of the entire process
flow-sheet.
• If we consider a reactive system (core process), where,
certain products are of primary interest, separation units are
either put in the upstream or downstream.
• Upstream: separation process (purification) before reaction
takes place.
• Downstream: separation process for recovery, purification
and concentration of the product from the reactor.

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 Introduction to Separation Process
• Most of the separation processes involve, either
separation of solutes from the solvent or, separation of a
mixture of solutes.
• In order to effect separation, one has to put either energy
or an extra material from outside to disturb stability.
Examples
 Separation of salt from sea water: thermal energy is added to
the system and water is evaporated leaving behind the salts.
 Separation of charged colloidal particles which are stable in a
solution.
Coagulant are added to destabilize the system

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 Introduction to Separation Process
• Generally, the separation processes are divided into two
categories, namely, equilibrium governed separation
processes and rate governed separation processes.
• In equilibrium governed separation processes, the product
phases are in equilibrium with the inlet phases.
• Equilibrium will dictate the maximum limit of separation
in this cases,.
• At equilibrium the temperatures, pressures, and fractions
of the two phases cease to change.
• Examples: distillation, absorption, adsorption, drying .
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 Introduction to Separation Process
• In rate governed separation processes, product phase
composition or separation occurs due to the difference of
rate of physical transport of species alone.
• Examples: membrane, osmosis, reverse osmosis, dialysis.
• The driving force of such transport is generally gradient of
chemical potential.
• Gradient of chemical potential, it is composed of four
parts: concentration gradient, pressure gradient,
temperature gradient and electrochemical potential
gradient.
• Presence of one or more of these causes the separation of
components. 6
 General separation process

The products differ in composition and may differ in phase

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 General separation process
• The extent of separation possible depends on
the exploitation of differences in molecular,
thermodynamic, and transport properties of the
species

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 Common separation technique
in chemical and biochemical industries
• The most common separation methods are
1. Separations by phase addition or
creation
2. Separations by barriers
3. Separations by solid agents
4. Separations by external field or gradient

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 Separation by phase creation
• It creates a second phase, immiscible with the
feed phase, by energy (heat and/or shaft-work)
transfer or by pressure reduction
e.g. distillation and crystallization

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 Separation by phase addition
• This separation methods adds another fluid
phase, which selectively absorbs, extracts, or
strips certain species from the feed.
e.g. liquid-liquid extraction and absorption
• Separation is due to the species solubility
difference in the added phase

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 SEPARATIONS BY BARRIERS
• Which is based on the use of a barrier, usually
a polymer membrane, which involves a gas or
liquid feed and exploits differences in species
permeability's through the barrier.

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 SEPARATIONS BY SOLID AGENTS
• Most commonly, the agent consists of particles
that are porous to achieve a high surface area,
and differences in species adsorbability are
exploited.
e.g. Adsorption, ion exchange and
chromatography

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 SEPARATIONS BY EXTERNAL
FIELD OR GRADIENT
• The applied external fields can take advantage of
differing degrees of response of molecules and
ions to force fields.
e.g. centrifugation, thermal diffusion, electrolysis
and others

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 Core separation processes in chemical industries
Separation process Typical applications
Distillation Fractionation of crude oil
Gas absorption Removal of CO2 from synthesis gas
Stripping Stripping volatile substance from wastewater by
steam
Adsorption Drying of air: using silica gel, activated alumina
Drying Drying of fruits, cloths
Crystallization Production of salt and sugar
Liquid-liquid Removal of benzene from gasoline
extraction
Membrane extraction Concentration of milk,
Solid-liquid extraction Extraction of caffeine from coffee
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 Principle mechanisms
• There are three phases
Phase Phase
encountered in practice: gas,
undergoing performing
liquid and solid. If mass transfer treatment treatment
occurs b/n two phases, there are Gas Gas
total nine possible combinations
Gas Liquid
of operations. If the direction is
not considered, there are six Gas Solid
combinations Liquid Gas
• The mass transfer operations can Liquid Liquid
also be classified in four Liquid Solid
mechanisms: Solid Gas
• Contact of two immiscible phases
• Indirect contact of miscible phases Solid Liquid
• Direct contact of miscible phases Solid Solid
• Use of surface phenomena 16
 Contact of two immiscible phases
• When two immiscible phases are in contact, mass
transfer or diffusion may occur through the interphase
between the phases. Most of the real-world industrial
mass transfer processes include this category.
Category Examples of separation processes
Gas-Gas Can’t be realized, b/c all gases are soluble in each other
Gas-Liquid Distillation, gas absorption, stripping, humidification
Gas-Solid Fractional sublimation, drying, desorption, adsorption
Liquid- Liquid-liquid extraction, fractional extraction
Liquid
Liquid-Solid Fractional solidification, crystallization, leaching
Solid-Solid No industrial separation operation (slow rate of diffusion
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 Indirect contact of miscible phases
• In this category, the phases are separated with diffusion
through a permeable or semi-permeable membrane. The
membrane is necessary to prevent the mixing of the phases.
• It also selectively separates materials.
• Membranes can be organic or inorganic
• There are three possible combinations within phases as
shown in the table
Category Examples of separation processes
Gas-Gas Gaseous diffusion, gas permeation, effusion
Gas-Liquid Permeation separation
Liquid-Liquid Dialysis, electrodialysis, osmosis, reverse osmosis
Solid-Solid No practical applications in the chemical process
industry 18
Indirect contact of miscible phases
Osmosis: Diffusion of water
molecules through a semi-
permeable membrane from
low-solute concentration side
to high-solute concentration
side

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 Others
• When miscible phases has a direct contact, it is
difficult to maintain the concentration gradient.
• These operations have only a few industrial
applications: Thermal diffusion, sweep diffusion,
and centrifugation of gas mixtures
• Foam separation is an example of use of surface
phenomena. It should not confused with the
floatation process, where insoluble solid particles
are removed from slurries
• In foam separation, a foam is formed by bubbling
air through the solution, the foam is then collected
and the solute can be concentrated 20
 CHOICE OF SEPARATION METHOD
• The chemical engineer faced with the problem of
separating the components of a solution must
ordinarily choose from several possible methods.
– Mass transfer operations
– Purely mechanical separation techniques
– Membrane separation
– Chemical reaction methods
• In the separation of a desired mineral from its ore, it
may be possible to use either the mass-transfer
operation of leaching with a solvent or the purely
mechanical methods of flotation or magnetic separator
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 CHOICE OF SEPARATION METHOD
• Water can be removed from an ethanol-water
solution either by causing it to react with unslaked
lime or by special methods of distillation,
• For example. a gaseous mixture of oxygen and
nitrogen may be separated by preferential adsorption
of the oxygen on activated carbon, by adsorption, by
distillation, or by gaseous effusion.
• The principal basis for choice in any case is cost:
that method which costs the least is usually the one
to be used.
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 Novel separation processes
• Novel separation process: separation processes
those are not conventional and routine fall
under this category.
• Some of the novel separation processes are
Membrane based separation processes
Chromatographic separation processes
Electric field assisted separation processes
Ion exchange processes

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 Group Assignment
• Novel separation process: separation processes
those are not conventional and routine fall under
this category.
• Some of the novel separation processes are
Membrane based separation processes
Chromatographic separation processes
Electric field assisted separation processes
Ion exchange processes

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