The HETP values increase as the solvent-to-liquid ratio
increases. The lower the number of stages the higher the HETP values.
The HETP values decrease as the system pressure increases. The
dependence of HETP values on the liquid load for constant solvent
indicates that mass transfer efficiency decreases with increasing
solvent mass velocity for constant liquid load. The HETP values
decrease in a linear fashion with increasing liquid load. The influence
ofthe reflux ratio on the HETP values shows that HETP increase
with increasing reflux ratio holding both the liquid and solvent
mass flow rates constant. For all the experiments for the separation
palmitic/(oleic + linoleic) acids from palm fatty acid mixtures,
the HETP values computed with the McCabe-Thiele method lies
within the range 0.7 < HETP < 2.4.