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 100 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 possible. The packing of the column with cellulose as a continuous stationary phase enables these linear velocities to be achieved. Most importantly, this type of column allows the study of momentum transport and mass 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 these columns has been modeled using elution patterns of both retained and unretained components, and plate height has been correlated as a function of velocities in the range of 1-100 cm/min. Engineering analysis of this type of chromatography column based on visual representation of the packed fibers by scanning electron microscopy, analysis of porosities using unretained (nonadsorbing) molecular probes, and application of momentum and mass transport equations is discussed.