Cost Comparisons of Some Separation Processes

Abstract

There are many separation methods in use today in the chenical inaustriesl. In the last 50 years or there about, the common and dominant separation prooesses have been the conventional processes of distillation, liquid-liquid extraction, gas absorption, leaching, crystallization, evaporation, e.t.c. This is so because of advantages of using these processes among which are the technical know-how on the design, construction, control and operation of these processes. Naturally, manfacturers are usually reluctant to venture into new areas. But in recent years, attention is being focussed on newer separation processes which are sometimes referred to as the “Novel Separaation Processes (NSP)”. These are usually seen as alternatives to conventional processes. Example of such novel processes include the membrane processes (like the Ultrafiltration (UF), Electrodialysis (ED), Reverse Osmosis (RO), etc.), adsorption, ion exchang and gas or liquid chromatography.