ABSTRACT
This chapter describes what parametric pumping is, how and why it works, what kinds of separations have been achieved, and how one can design and optimize a parametric pump to obtain a desired separation. Cyclic operation is not a new concept in field of separations even though noncyclic, steady-state processes are certaimy more common. The separation in this process relies on fact that the periodic temperature change causes periodic adsorption-desorption of one of the mixture components. The Sirotherm process, developed by Weiss and co-workers, is similar to Barnebey’s except that it uses ion-exchange resins in place of carbon and brackish water in place of the gas. Parametric pumping is a process which also uses a cyclic change in a thermodynamic variable to produce a separation. Separation is ultimately limited by dispersion due to axial diffusion and finite mass transfer rates between phases. In most real systems the dispersion can be kept very small so as not to seriously reduce separation.
