T2

To
U
x
XM
Z'

Z\
z

=
catalyst bed temperature
=
coolant temperature
=
inlet gas temperature
=. overall heat transfer coefficient [Kcal/m2 " hr
conversi on
conversion at yM
ammonia mol fraction
equilibrium ammonia mol fraction
reactor length

[K]
[K]
[K]
" K]
[-]
[-]
[-]
r

p
pB

= gas density
= apparent density of catalyst in the
packed bed

Literature Cited
1) Baddour R. F., P. L. T. Brain, B. A. Logeais
Eymery: Chem. Eng. ScL, 20, 281 (1965).

2)

[m]

Berkelew,

C. H.:

Chem.

Eng. Progs.

and J. P.

Symp. Ser.,

No. 25,

37 (1959).

[-]
[-]
[-]

c
ab
(1 +K)/K
non-dimensional catalyst temperature
(E/RTo^XT. - To)
non-dimensional coolant temperature
(E/RT<?)( T2 - TQ^

Vm

for

the Synthesis

Kogaku,

[-]

(Presented

32, 921

on Promoted Iron Catalysts

of Ammonia", 2nd edition,

Topsoe
Copenhagen
(1956).
4)
Ohki,
Y., T. Kato, H. Inoue,

[-]

maximumnon-dimensional temperature
in a reactor

A DEFINITION

3) Nielsen, A. : "An Investigation

and

T. Komiya:

Haldor

Kagaku

(1968).

at the 40th

Annual

Meeting

of The Soc. of

Chem. Engrs., Japan at Nagoya, April 1975.)

[-]

OF SEPARATION EFFICIENCY
Kohei OGAWA, Shiro

ITO

AND HlDEHARU KISHINO

Department of Chemical Engineering,

Tokyo Institute

of Technology, Tokyo 152

By using the entropy of information theory, a morereasonable separation efficiency can be

defined from the point of view of statistics. This newly defined separation efficiency varies from
zero for the case of non-separation, in which the mass fractions of valuable componentin both
product and residuum take the same values as that in feed, to unity for the case of ideal separation,
in which the valuable material and useless material in the feed leave the separator as the product
and the residuum, respectively, and has sufficient detection sensitivity for even a small change of
mass fraction of components in the product or in the residuum. The newly defined separation
efficiency, which satisfies

the fundamental

requirements described

above and has clear physical

meaning on the basis of its definition, may be useful to evaluate the performance of separation
processes.

separation, in which the mixture fed to the separator

Introduction
indus-

is separated completely into two components, the

valuable material and useless material in the feed

tries depends in manycases on the efficiency of sepa-

leaving the separator as the product and the residuum,

tant problem howto define the separation efficiency

so as to evaluate the performance of separation pro-

efficiency are in the range of zero to unity. Second,

it is desirable that the separation efficiency has sufficient detection sensitivity for even a small change
of the mass fraction of components in the product
or in the residuum. And, additionally, it is advisable
that the separation efficiency has clear physical meaning on the basis of its definition.
Various types of separation efficiency have been

The performance of processes

in chemical

rators used in the process, and it becomes an impor-

cesses.
The separation efficiency should satisfy the following two requirements. First, the value of separation
efficiency is zero for the case of non-separation,
in which the mass fractions of valuable component
in both product and in residuum take the same values
as that in the feed, and unity for the case of ideal
Received on July 27, 1977. Correspondence concerning this article
be addressed to K. Ogawa.
44

should

respectively.

Usually,

the

values

of

separation

proposed, and Newton efficiency is most widely used

as a suitable

and useful

one at present2"4).

In the

steady-operation separation of a binary mixture as

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

OF JAPAN

shown in Fig. 1, Newton efficiency rjN is defined

]n~xf{\

-xf){xp-xr)

as

UJ

where xF, xP and xR are the mass fraction of valuable

component in the feed, in the product and in the
residuum of the separator, respectively.
The basis

of definition of this efficiency is generally interpreted

as follows.

(yield of product) x (qualitative improvement)^ practical separation

(yield of product) x (qualitative improvement)^ ideal separation
(PlF){(xP
(FxF/F){(l

- xF)/xF}
- xF)/xF}

Fig. 1 Steady-operation
mixture

separation

of a binary

or
7jN =(recovery rate of valuable material)
-(intermixture rate of useless material in product)
^PxP/FxF

-P(l

-xP)/F(l

-xF)

I(Mt,

= -E

mentioned above. However, the second requirement

is not sufficiently satisfied, as is described later in desuitable

and reasonable

from a statistical

separation

efficiency defined

point of view.

1. Entropy of Information Theory1"5)

If Mi (i=V or U) are mutually exclusive events

and the probabilities

that the events will happen are
p(Mi), the amount of self-information
I{M^) and
the average amount of self-information or self-entropy

H(M) are defined as the following equations :

/(M<)

= -log/?(Mi)

H(M)= - j:

p(Mi)
i

(2)

loep(Mi)

= -p{Mv)logp(Mv)-piMv)logpiMu)

(3)

The self-entropy
H(M) is the expectation
of the
amount of self-information
I(M%) obtained from a
trial, and represents a kind of uncertainty
of the
results.
In the case of p(Mv)=l;
p(Mn)=0,
or

p(Mv)=0; p(Mu)= 1, the self-entropy

H(M) takes zero

value, showing that there is no uncertainty of the

results.
On the other hand, when the probabilities

p(Mv) and p(Mn) are equal to each other, the self-

entropy takes the maximumvalues.

With the combination of the events Mt and other
events S3- (j=P or R) which are mutually exclusive
and will happen with probabilities piSj), the amount
of mutual information I{Mt, S3) and the average
amount of mutual information or mutual entropy

I(M; S) are defined as follows.

VOL.

+Z i:
-Z 2 XM,,

The purpose of this paper is to propose a more

ll

NO.

1978

S,)I{Mt,

(4)

S,)

= E Z p(Mt, Si) \o%{p{MtISi)lp{Mi)}

respectively.
requirement

tail.

{KM1, SJ/piMMSi)}
ipiMJSMMi)}

KM; 5)=2 E p(Mt,

where F, P and R are the mass flow rate of the feed,

of the product and of the residuum,
Newton efficiency satisfies the first

S/)=log
^ log

SJlogpiMJS,)

KMi)logKMi)
i

P(Mi,

= H(M)

5y)l0gj
H(M/S)

(5)

In these equations, p(Mt9 S3-) is the joint probabilities

of events Mt and S3 and represents the probabilities
that events Mt and S3 will both happen in the same
time, p(MilS3) is the conditional probabilities
and
represents the probabilities
that the events Mt
will happen in sub-population S3 and H(M/S)(=
-Il TiP(Mi9 Sy)log/>(Af</S) is the conditional selfi

entropy and represents the average amount of conditional

self-information
I{MtIS5).
The mutual
entropy represents a statistical
relationship
between
H(M) and H(M/S), and is the expectation
of the

amount of mutual information I{Mt, S3) obtained

from a trial.
2. Definition of Another Separation Efficiency
In the steady-operation separation of a binary
mixture as shown in Fig. 1, the events Mt correspond
to a mass chosen in the feed mixture being valuable
material or useless material, and the probabilities
p(Mi) correspond to the mass fraction of valuable
or useless component in the feed.
p(Mr) = xF
(6)
p(Mu)= l ~xF
(7)
The events So- correspond to that the feed mixture
leaving the separator as the product or as the residuum, and the probabilities p(S3) are given as
p(SP)
p(SB)

= P/F
= R/F

(8)
(9)
45

Table 1 Joint probabilities

probabilities

piM^Sj)
p(Mit Sj)

Sj \Mt
SP
SR

The conditional
self-entropy
H(M/S)
represents
the reduction of statistical
uncertainty of the results
after passing through the separator, that is, a de-

p(Mi9 Sj) and conditional

Mv
PxPIF
RxR/F

pWtlSj)

Mv

Mv Mv

P(l-Xp)/F
R(l-xB)/F

xP
xR

crease of H(M/S)shows an increase of mass fraction

of valuable component in the product or its decrease

\-xP
\-xR

of that in the residuum.

The property of conditional self-entropy and mutual

entropy described above suitably represent the performance of separation processes, and a new separation efficiency rj can be defined as follows under

the first requirement mentioned in the introduction.

V={I(M;

S)-I(M;

= {H(M)
= l

S)min}/{/(M;

S)max-J(M;

S)min}

H(M/S)}/H(M)

-H(M/S)/H(M)

=1-[P{-xP\ogXp-(1

-xP)log(l-xP)}

+R{-xRlog xR-(l -xR)\og(l-xR)}]

/[F{-^
log^-(l
-x^)log(l
-x^)}]
In the

condition

of xP>xF>xR,

rearranged
as follows, by substituting
(ll).
rj= 1 -[(xF-xR){-xP

Fig. 2 Example of characteristic

curves of
newly defined separation efficiency under condition
of ^=0.4

with

the

following

two material
balance
F=P+R
FxF=PxP+RxR

In this paper, the quantitative

xP>xF>xB

+(xP-xF){-xR
l[(xP-xR){-xF

relations.
(10)
(1 1)

condition of

(12)

is assumed as a natural requirement. Andthe joint

probabilities p(Mu S3) and the conditional probabili-

ties p(MJSj) which will be used are shown in Table 1.

From these probabilities,
the self-entropy,
the
conditional
self-entropy and the nutual entropy are
shown as follows :
H(M)= -xF logxF-(l
-xF)\og(l
-xF)
(13)
H(M/S)=(P/F){-xP
logxP-(l
-xP) log(l -xP)}

separation,

-xP)}

-xB) log(1 -xB)}]

-xF) log(l -xF)}]
(20)

3. Characteristics

of Separation Efficiency

The characteristics
of separation efficiency can be
shown clearly with characteristic
curves as follows.
For example, the relationship
between the newly

defined separation efficiency rj and the mass fraction

of valuable component in the product xP under the
condition of xF=0A is shown in Fig. 2 with parameter

xR=0, 0.1,

0.2,

0.3.

These

characteristic

curves

show that the newly defined separation efficiency

has sufficient detection sensitivity in a wide range of
xF and satisfies the second requirement described
in the introduction.

To compare the newly defined separation efficiency

with parameter xR=0, 0.1, 0.2. As is obvious from

that

H(M/S)xp=1
,axss0
=H(MIS)mlll
= 0
I(M; S)XP=1,XE=O=I(M; S)m^=H(M)

is,

(1 5)
(16)

In the case of non-separation,

xP=xB=xF, H(M/S)
takes the maximum values and I(M; S) takes the
minimumvalues.
H(M/S)xp=XR=XF = H(M/S)m^ = H(M) ( 1 7)

46

-xP)log(l

xP=l and xjK=0,

the maximum
values,

S)XP=XR=XF=I(M;

Eqs. (10) and

tj with Newton efficiency rjN, both characteristic

curves in the case of Xp=0.3 are shown in Fig. 3

the conditional self-entropy H(M/S) takes the minimumvalues and the mutual entropy /(M; S) takes

/(M;

\ogxB-(1
logxF-(l

can be

(14)
(5)

+(R/F){-xRlogxB-(l-xR)\og(l-xB)}
I(M; S)=H(M)-H(M/S)
In the case of ideal

logxp-(1

(19)

Eq. (19)

S)mln=0

(18)

this figure, Newtonefficiencyis too sensitive in the

lower range of xP and has insufficient detection sensitivity in the higher range of xP, and this tendency is
emphasized

in the higher

range of parameter

xR.

Conclusion

By using the entropy of information theory, a more

reasonable

separation

efficiency can be defined from

the point of view of statistics.

This newly defined separation

efficiency varies
from zero for the case of non-separation to unity
for the case of ideal separation.
It has sufficient
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING OF JAPAN

detection sensitivity
for even a small change of the
mass fraction of components in the product or in
the residuum.
The newly defined separation
efficiency, which
satisfies the fundamental requirements as described
above and has clear physical meaning on the basis

of its definition,

may be useful to evaluate the per-

formance of separation processes.

Nomenclature
F
= mass flow rate
H(M)
H(M/S)

= self-entropy
= conditional self-entropy

[g/s]
[bit]
[bit]

I(M; S) = mutual entropy

[bit]
I(Mi)
= amount of self-information
[bit]
I(Mi/Sj) = amount of conditional
self-information
[bit]
I(Mit Sj) = amount of mutual information
[bit]
Mi
= event Mv or Mv
[-]
P
= mass flow rate of product
[g/s]
p(Mt) = probabilities
that events Mt will happen [-]
p(Mi/Sj) = probabilities
that events Mi will
happen in sub-population
Sj
[-]
p(Mit Sj) = probabilities
that both events Mt and
Sj will happen in the same time
[-]
R
= mass flow rate of residuum
[g/s]
Sj
= event SP or SM
<Subscript>
F
=feed
P
= product
R
= residuum
U
= useless material

VOL.

ll

NO.

1978

Fig. 3 Comparison of characteristic

curves of
newly defined separation efficiency with that of
Newton efficiency under condition of 0^ = 0.3
y

= valuable

Literature Cited
1)

Brillouin,

L.:

material
"Science

and Information

demic Press (1962).

2) Newton,
H. W.:J. Rock
Product,
3)
Richards,
C: Brit. Coal

Theory",

35, 26 (1932).
Res. Assoc,

Utilisat.

Aca-

30,

113

(1967).

4) Rietema, K.: Chem. Eng. Set, 7, 89 (1957).

5) Shannon, C. E. : "The Mathematical Theory of Communication", The Univ. of Illinois Press (1949).

47