Mass transport characteristics and chromatographic behavior of preparativeelectrochromatography on hydroxyapatite

Introducing an electric field into chromatography on hydroxyapatite (HAP) w as attempted in order to enhance mass transfer and separation performance. A membrane spaced multicompartment electrolyzer was developed for electroch romatography on HAP. The high performance of liquid transport by electroosm otic flux was identified and described in terms of dynamic electroosmotic p ressure. The application of the electric field resulted in an improved adso rption of bovine serum albumin as shown by the breakthrough curve as functi on of the electric field. An improved elution was also obtained in the pres ence of the electric field. The results show that electroosmosis is a power ful tool of liquid transport and dispersion in a packed bed of fine particl es and has potential in the large-scale chromatography of biological molecu les. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.