Evaluating the efficiency frontier of separation processes

The problem of finding the minimum work to be done to separate a mixture at a fixed process duration or at a given process capacity is considered. The estimates of the work done in an irreversible process substantially exceed those of the work done in reversible separation, and the work done in irreversible separation of depleted mixtures is finite even when the concentration of the minor component is arbitrarily close to zero. A method is proposed for extending these estimates to separation processes consuming heat rather than mechanical energy.