Thermal diffusion separation hydrocarbon isomers

TABLE 19.10, Examples of Separations by Thermal Diffusion (a) Hydrocarbon Isomers... 

With the development of specific equipment and processes by which thermal be diffusion is now carried out, separation of substances from their mixtures can often carried out more cheaply by this method, if applicable, than by other separation techniques. Amongst the successful separations effected by thermal diffusion are those of the isotopes of helium and the isotopes of chlorine gas. The method had also been used to effect separation of the isotopes of uranium during the years of World War II in the U.S.A. Constituent hydrocarbons can easily be separated from their mixture by liquid-phase thermal diffusion, because interaction between molecules of different hydrocarbons is practically non-existent and, consequently, each hydrocarbon molecule of the mixture acts independently under the influence of the applied temperature gradient. Another use of thermal diffusion of special interest is its applicability to the separation of mixtures of liquids of close boiling points and of mixtures of isomers, into their respective components. 

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