(761e) Continuous Centrifugal Partition Chromatography: Bridging the Gap Between Liquid-Liquid Extraction and Liquid-Solid Chromatography

Centrifugal partition chromatography (also known to as continuous countercurrent chromatography) is a support-free liquid-liquid chromatographic techniques, which combines the principles of extraction and chromatography. The separation of a mixture is accomplished as a result of the different partitioning of the solutes between two liquid phases, whereas one of the phases is kept stationary by means of centrifugal forces in a specially designed “column”.

Sequential centrifugal partition chromatography (sCPC) is a novel continuous cyclic chromatographic technology, which is used for the separation of a feed mixture in two products. One of the specifics of sCPC is that the feed stream is introduced continuously during one cycle and the products are collected sequentially in each of the two steps of the cycle.

In this work, the theoretical background and principle of sCPC are presented. A mathematical model is developed and employed in a systematic study of the influence of the operating parameters on the process separation performances. The results of this study are demonstrated experimentally using a model binary feed mixture. The advantages and limits of the sCPC technology are underlined, and used to define potential fields of sCPC application. The technology is compared with the continuous countercurrent liquid-liquid extraction and continuous countercurrent liquid-solid chromatography i.e. Simulated Moving Bed technology (SMB).