A computational fluid dynamics study of binary adsorption separation in chromatography

Abstract

FEMLAB software was applied to incorporate computational fluid dynamics (CFD) into the simulation of the adsorption-separation process in chromatography. Simulations of both linear and nonlinear processes demonstrated that significant dispersion retarded the separation processes, and that a small inlet induced curved solute concentration profiles, resulting in peak tailing of the elution chromatogram. The linear simulation visually confirmed that a small Stanton number might be another factor for peak tailing. For cases with a reasonably small Stanton number, peak tailing became more serious with decreasing Stanton number. Comparisons between the results of the CFD simulation of the nonlinear case, the corresponding conventional 1-D simulation and the experimental result lead to the conclusion that the CFD simulation is useful for a better understanding of the dynamic adsorption and separation process in a chromatographic column. © 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim.