NUCLEAR-MAGNETIC-RESONANCE AND THE DESIGN OF CHROMATOGRAPHIC SEPARATIONS

The design of commercial chromatographic separations is an increasingl y important subject as the number of products being introduced to the market and pressures for cost containment continue to increase. Of par ticular concern are the development of more productive columns, dealin g with the large number of design parameters of industrial importance and increasing the scale of production. It is therefore important to r elate macroscopic column performance to underlying physico-chemical fu ndamentals, and important among these are mass transfer and fluid mech anics. It is shown here that well established nuclear magnetic resonan ce techniques can be helpful in characterizing the diffusion and flow behavior of commercial columns and for obtaining the insights needed t o develop new designs. It is also suggested that the design parameters so obtained be incorporated into a non-dispersive formulation for des cribing column behavior.