Designing Large‐Scale Adsorptive Separations

Abstract

Scale‐up of adsorptive separations is discussed in terms of separation economics and underlying transport theory. Examination of economic data suggests that recovery of valuable solutes, such as proteins, from dilute solution is dominated by the costs of processing large masses of unwanted materials. Separation processes are classified into concentration, fractionation, and purification, and the corresponding adsorptive operations are discussed. It appears desirable to make substantial changes in both equipment configuration and operating mode upon scale‐up, and hence careful design with a firm basis in transport theory is warranted. Existing difficulties in modelling such operations, especially at the production scale, are reviewed.