It is unclear whether the higher number of ideal stages was due
to low mass transfer competition between the different fatty components
or the higher uncertainty in the estimation of the number
of ideal stages. In fact, the standard deviation of N (Table 6) was
small for the first step (0.02) and larger for the last (0.9) because
the uncertainty in the experimental concentrations (0.01 mass%)
had a greater influence on the low concentrations obtained in the
last two steps. It should also be noted that Eq. (1) is rigorously valid
for a one-component mass transfer system.