Relative volatility is a measure comparing the vapor pressures of the components in a liquid mixture of chemicals. This quantity is widely used in designing large industrial distillation processes. In effect, it indicates the ease or difficulty of using distillation to separate the more volatile components from the less volatile components in a mixture. By convention, relative volatility is usually denoted as .
Relative volatilities are used in the design of all types of distillation processes as well as other separation or absorption processes that involve the contacting of vapor and liquid phases in a series of equilibrium stages.
Relative volatilities are not used in separation or absorption processes that involve components reacting with each other (for example, the absorption of gaseous carbon dioxide in aqueous solutions of sodium hydroxide).
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“Man may have his opinion as to the relative importance of feeding his body and nourishing his soul, but he is allowed by Nature to have no opinion whatever as to the need for feeding the body before the soul can think of anything but the body’s hunger.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)