Fruits and Vegetables : Introduction

A fruit is a seed bearing part of plant and is edible when ripen and fleshy. Many vegetables may be considered fruit in the true botanical sense. Botanically, fruits are those portion of plant which house seeds. Therefore, items such as tomatoes, cucumber, peppers etc. would be classified as fruit on this basis. However, important distinction between fruit and vegetable lies on usage basis. Those items that are generally eaten with main course of meal are considered vegetables. Those that are commonly eaten as deserts are considered fruits. Vegetables are derived from different parts of the plants. Read more

Minimum Reflux (infinite no. of plates)

At any reflux less than total, the number of plates needed for given separation is larger than total reflux. The number of plate increases continuously as reflux ratio is decreased. As the ratio becomes smaller, no. of plates required becomes very large and at definite minimum reflux ratio, number of plate become infinite.

This minimum reflux ratio can be defined as the reflux ratio (Rm) that will require infinite no. of trays for given desired separation of XD and XB. This corresponds to minimum vapor flow in tower and hence minimum reboiler and condenser sizes. Read more