Review of “Industrial Chemical Separation” by Timothy C. Frank and Bruce S. Holden

Daniel R. Summers, PE, 24 July 2024

This was a very interesting book for me.  The historical information was wonderful especially since I have been so focused on just Distillation my whole career.  The “Pioneers” of Separations are well represented.  Seeing the parallels between Distillation, Extraction, Adsorption and Crystallization was extremely interesting.

This book is for the practicing engineer who is looking for ideas on how to best separate a mixture.  The emphasis is not on how to actually work the equations for the separation but rather explore the potential each type of separation may provide.  Do not get me wrong, the fundamentals are here in this book and they help explain each type of separation in detail.  You will not use this book to size a liquid-liquid extraction column, for example.  However, the references are there that if pursued, one could do just that.

I like the repeated emphasis on cost effectiveness.  So many books look exclusively at finding a solution to a separations problem, but this book shows that finding the cost-effective solution is the engineer’s ultimate pursuit.  I also appreciate their focus on the environment and current environmental issues and how environmental awareness needs to be included in the choice of Separations Process.

The numerous references are wonderful.  The authors are obviously well experienced and have worked hard to accumulate the impressive reference lists at the end of each chapter.

I liked one line found in Chapter 6.3, “a mass transfer device is an interfacial area generator.”  I like that statement.  I never thought of it that way, but it is absolutely true.

The authors also introduce an interesting concept called “Separation Power.”  This concept was also the topic of a recent engineering article⁽¹⁾ by the authors.  The Separation Power can be used to easily compare the performance of any Separations Unit over time or to predict future recovery vs purity scenarios.

This is an excellent book for the Separation Engineer’s library.  I highly recommend it. 

Based on my opinion (not others), I found only one erroneous statement.  It is in Chapter 9 near the bottom of the third paragraph, “Although vapor-liquid surface tension is indeed a factor in distillation performance, it is not generally a focus of design.”  I contend it is the focus of design⁽²⁾ and this conclusion actually helps support the parallels between extraction and distillation.

About The Book

Frank, T.C. and Holden, B.S., Industrial Chemical Separation: Historical Perspective, Fundamentals, and Engineering Practice (2023) De Gruyter.  ISBN: 9783110695052; 9783110695021

 “Industrial Chemical Separation” is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, etc., and directly from the De Gruyter website (https://www.degruyter.com/)

References

1. Frank, T.C. and Holden, B.S, “Make the Most of Separation Power,” CEP, June 2024, pp 32-37
2. Summers, D.R., “Tray Capacity Limitations at Low Surface Tension” AIChE Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, October 30, 2012, paper 207d, unpublished.