4. Separation Processes

One of the key roles of a Chemical Engineer is to obtain a valuable product from a process, whether that be a specific petrochemical compound from a mix of substances within crude oil or an active pharmaceutical ingredient needed to treat a specific illness, or even remove a specific substance to leave a desired product behind, such as in the decaffeination of coffee. These operations all involve separation processes, of which many exist.

Separation processes encompass fundamental aspects of engineering, incorporating fluid dynamics and thermodynamics and applying them to unit operations. Separation processes operate on the principle of the mass of one material being separated from another, thus the study of this area of engineering is predominantly concerned with mass transfer. This module will explore several different separation processes and we’ll discuss their application in industry, and touch on how knowledge of separation processes can be used in industrial equipment design.