Especially ofinterestinmultistage equilibriumare the operating
conditions leading to the optimum relation between the product
quality and yield. Fig. 16 illustrates the yield and quality of palmitic
acid in the extract for all the extraction experiments for the separation
palmitic/(oleic + linoleic) acids from palm fatty acid mixtures.
The results show that the yield of palmitic acid in extract increases
and the palmitic acid quality decreases as the extract-to-raffinate
ratio increases. The intersection point in Fig. 16 provides the optimum
relation between the product quality and yield of palmitic
acid in the extract. After the intersection point, an increase in the
yield leads to a decrease in the quality of palmitic acid in the extract,
and before the intersection point, an increase in the product purity
of palmitic acid in the extract leads to a decrease in the yield.