%0 Journal Article
%T Separation Strategies for Processing of Dilute Liquid Streams
%A Sujata Mandal
%A Bhaskar D. Kulkarni
%J International Journal of Chemical Engineering
%D 2011
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2011/659012
%X Processing of dilute liquid streams in the industries like food, agro-, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, environment, and so forth needs special strategy for the separation and purification of the desired product and for environment friendly disposal of the waste stream. The separation strategy adopted to achieve the goal is extremely important from economic as well as from environmental point of view. In the present paper we have reviewed the various aspects of some selected universal separation strategies such as adsorption, membrane separation, electrophoresis, chromatographic separation, and electroosmosis that are exercised for processing of dilute liquid streams. 1. Introduction Processing of dilute liquid streams occurs in number of unit processes and unit operations in chemical industries. Whereas the separation strategies adopted by these industries sometimes follow the conventional processes such as distillation, crystallization, drying, and so forth, due to the familiarity of operation since several decades. In industry, handling of dilute liquid streams needs special strategies for the separation and purification of the desired product and for environmental friendly disposal of the waste stream. The separation strategy adopted is extremely important from economic as well as from environmental point of view. The suitability of a separation technique depends on number of factors that includes:(i)improved selectivity,(ii)improved energy efficiency,(iii)development of new process configurations and integration,(iv)economic viability,(v)environmental safety and compatibility, and(vi)sustainability (recycle and reuse). Numerous new/modified techniques have been exercised by engineers and scientists to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of the traditional separation techniques. Separation processes of commercial interests can be categorized according to the phases involved as(i)solid-solid separation (screening, classification, floatation, flocculation, and field-based),(ii)solid-liquid separation (thickening, centrifugation, filtration, drying, and crystallization),(iii)solid-gas separation (cyclone, filters, adsorption, etc.),(iv)liquid-liquid separation (distillation, extraction, membranes, and adsorption),(v)liquid-gas separation (absorption, stripping, and pervaporation),(vi)gas-gas separation (membranes), and(vii)solid-liquid-gas separation. Each of these categories has several alternative ways to bring about separation. However, it is not possible to look at all such possible strategies exhaustively within a single frame. In the
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijce/2011/659012/