Thermodynamic efficiency of thermoacoustic mixture separation

The acoustic power loss in the thermoacoustic mixture-separation process is derived, including the contributions due to a nonzero gradient in concentration. The significance of the gradient-dependent term is discussed. The limiting thermodynamic efficiency of the separation is calculated. Under reasonable circumstances, the efficiency approaches 10(-2)n(H)n(L)(Deltam/m(avg))(2), where n(H) and n(L) are the mole fractions of the two components of the mixture, and Deltam/m(avg) is the fractional difference between the molar masses of the two components. This efficiency is of the same order of magnitude as that of some other, more conventional separation methods. (C) 2002 Acoustical Society of America.