Carbon trade in both types of diamonds exists, the two markets act in dramatically different ways. Unlike precious metals such as gold or platinum, gem diamonds do not trade as a commodity: there is a substantial mark-up in the sale of diamonds, and there is not a very active market for resale of diamonds. Industrial diamonds are valued mostly for their hardness and heat conductivity, with the gemological qualities of clarity and color being mostly irrelevant. About 80% of mined diamonds (equal to about 100 million carats or 20 tonnes annually) are unsuitable for use as gemstones are relegated for industrial
Industrial separation processes operations are having several different functions: A heterogeneous mixture (e. g. liquid and solid) can be separated by mechanical separation processes like filtration or centrifugation. Homogeneous mixtures can be separated by molecular separation processes; these are either equilibrium-based or rate-controlled. Equilibrium-based processes are operating by the formation of two immiscible phases with different compositions at equilibrium, an example is distillation (in distillation the vapor has another composition than the liquid). Rate-controlled processes are based on different transport rates of compounds through a medium, examples are adsorption, ion exchange or crystallization. Separation of a mixture into two phases can be done