Relationship between fractional separation curves and quantitative optimization criteria in the separation of pourable materials

For more than 60 years, the accepted wisdom has been that the methods of optimizing separation processes based on quantitative criteria are fundamentally different from those based on separation curves. The present article demonstrates a functional relation between these two approaches. Reposing upon this relation, we propose a new method for the optimization of separation processes, which combines the advantages of both approaches, namely the availability of a quantitative evaluation and invariance of the evaluation with respect to the grain-size distribution of the starting material.