TRANSPORT-PROPERTIES OF ROLLED, CONTINUOUS STATIONARY-PHASE COLUMNS

Continuous stationary phase columns consist of woven textile matrixes of fibers rolled into a cylindrical configuration and inserted into a liquid chromatography column. This configuration allows separations to be carried but at interstitial mobile phase velocities in excess of 1 00 cm/min and pressures of up to 700 psig for stationary phases based on cellulose. Ordinarily, these conditions would cause compaction of a cellulosic stationary phase to the point where flow is no longer poss ible. The packing of the column with cellulose as a continuous station ary phase enables these linear velocities to be achieved. Most importa ntly, this type of column allows the study of momentum transport and m ass transfer in a media in which the mobile phase explores almost all of the void volumes in the column.; The analysis of flow patterns in t hese columns has been modeled using elution patterns of both retained and unretained components, and plate height has been correlated as a f unction of velocities in the range of 1-100 cm/min. Engineering analys is of this type of chromatography column based on visual representatio n of the packed fibers by scanning electron microscopy, analysis of po rosities using unretained (nonadsorbing) molecular probes, and applica tion of momentum and mass transport equations is discussed.