Not sure about the industrial process, I think it involves membranes and some chemical.
Some problems like flow resistance of gasses can be reduced as low as you like. Just use wider pipes, slower speeds, etc. Charging the gas or particles suspended in it would create a current flow as the charges move, so that consumes energy just like any electric circuit.
But all these negatives aren't really bad. If you can gain arbitrarily more energy by floating the container up a higher distance, then eventually it'll overcome every inefficiency. Practical details like building a tower into space aren't a problem. It would still be a rewrite of accepted thermodynamics even if we can't actually do it today on Earth.
I think the critical issue is that nothing at all can be gained from bouyancy. Efficiency improvements always asymptotically approach the theoretical limits, which are below what's required for perpetual motion.
