FricDiff : a novel separation concept

In this paper a novel separation concept is presented. Application to the separationof azeotropic mixtures is discussed and is illustrated with modeling-and experimentalresults. The proposed concept makes use of an additional gaseous component toenhance separation. In counter diffusion this enhancer will exhibit a larger frictionwith one of the components of the mixture than with the others; lowering the fluxof this component while leaving the flux of the other components almost unaltered.Use of this concept in a shell and tube module will lead to a separation. We presentmodeling and experimental results for the separation of Ethanol/H2O mixturesusing CO2 as an enhancer and discuss that separation of the azeotrope is possiblewith this concept.