Separation processes are of great economic importance as they are accounting for 40 – 90% of capital and operating costs in industry. The separation processes of mixtures are including besides others washing, extraction, pressing, drying, clarification, evaporation, crystallization and filtration. Often several separation processes are performed successively. Separation operations are having several different functions:
* Purification of raw materials and products and recovery of by-products
* Recycling of solvents and unconverted reactants
* Removal of contaminants from effluents