A thermodynamic interpretation of optimum conditions of the separation of mixture components by distillation of dilute solutions

Abstract

A condition for the maximum thermodynamic efficiency of distillation of dilute solutions in a multistep cascade was obtained from the condition of a maximum change in the entropy of a mixture. These conditions were shown to correspond to a maximum degree of separation of mixture components. A thermodynamic equation was derived to describe the relation between a decrease in the Gibbs energy and the mixture value increment during distillation of a dilute ideal solution.