Thermal diffusion in a countercurrent-flow Frazier scheme with optimum plate spacing for improved performance

The degree of separation and production rate for a binary mixture in a countercurrent-flow Frazier scheme with N flat-plate thermal-diffusion columns of the same size and with total fixed expense and with a variation of plate spacing have been investigated. The equations of estimating optimum plate spacing for maximum separation and for maximum production rate have been developed. Considerable improvements in performance (112% for the degree of separation and 748% for the production rate) were obtained when the thermal-diffusion columns with optimum plate spacing were used. The fact that countercurrent-flow operation was more effective than cocurrent-flow operation in a Frazier scheme, was also confirmed.