Separation Technology

Separation technology is at the heart of engineering in the chemical and process industries. This book takes the pulse of the technology, and assesses its health for future use. Recently separation technology has been under pressure to improve both the quality and diversity of products. In response, the condition of older technologies - drying, crystallization and distillation - has been improved, while newer ideas like adsorption and bioseparations have been brought rapidly into training. Understanding of the underlying phenomena of separations, argue the authors, leads to better equipment design and more applications. Newer processes depend on subtle differences in the molecular architecture of the components to be separated: chiral molecules, for example. The way in which this is reflected at a larger scale is one of the themes of the book.