ANALYSIS OF A NONLINEAR, COUPLED CHROMATOGRAPHIC SYSTEM

A relatively simple mathematical derivation is employed to obtain the relationship between the solute concentrations and their velocities al ong the column. These equations are used to calculate numerically the breakthrough curves and delineate the elution behaviors of competing s olutes in the chromatographic column. A hodograph constructed from the derived equations using published data for the coupled adsorption iso therms is adopted to visualize the concepts of the shock and the diffu sive waves. The resulting elution curves at different column lengths s how a successful application of the scaling relationship between the c olumn length and feed period to the nonlinear coupled system.