Most industrial chemists spend their days separating the components of large quantities of chemical mixtures into pure or purer forms. The processes involved, such as distillation, account for 10–15% ...

Simple distillation close simple distillationSeparation method used to separate a solvent from a solution. is a method for separating the solvent from a solution. For example, water can be separated ...

A solid sorbent that selectively binds hydrocarbons may help the petrochemical industry reduce costs and energy consumption by increasing the efficiency of—or eliminating—energy-intensive separation ...

Industry separates crude oil, natural gas and chemical mixtures into pure products by means of fractionating distillation columns. This process is energy-intensive, but a new type of column structure ...

Distillation remains a backbone technology in the chemical process industry despite its historically high energy consumption. In recent years, research has focused on improving the thermal efficiency ...

In producing hydrocarbons for the chemical industry, refiners must first crack oil at high temperatures and then cool the mixture to liquefy the gases for separation. This energy-intensive chilling ...

CORRECTION: This story was updated on Dec. 16, 2015, to correct the description of distillation and to clarify the separation difficulty posed by azeotropes. A new method for heating liquid mixtures ...

For centuries, distillation has been used to separate the components of liquid solutions through extremely selective heating and cooling. Numerous instruments are used to control the differing ...