THE OPTIMUM PLATE-SPACING FOR THE BEST PERFORMANCE IN A FLAT-PLATE THERMAL DIFFUSION COLUMN WITH TRANSVERSE SAMPLING STREAMS

The equations for estimating optimum plate-spacing for maximum separation and for maximum production rate in a flat-plate thermal diffusion column with transverse sampling stream and with fixed operating expense, have been derived. Considerable improvement in performance is obtainable if the optimum plate-spacing is selected so that the convective strength can be properly reduced and controlled, resulting in suppressing the undesirable remixing effect while still preserving the desirable cascading effect and thereby leading to improved performance.