Effect of Sample-loading on Fractionation Efficiency (FE) in a Large Scale Splitter-less Gravitational SPLITT Fractionation (GSF)

Abstract

Gravitational SPLITT fractionation (GSF) provides separation of colloidal particles into two subpopulations in a preparative scale. Conventionally, GSF is carried out in a thin rectangular channel having two inlets and two outlets at the top and bottom of the channel, respectively. And the channel is equipped with two flow-splitters, one between the top and bottom inlets and another between the top and bottom outlets. A large scale splitter-less GSF system had been developed, which was designed to operate in the full feed depletion (FFD) mode. In the FFD mode, there is only one inlet through which the sample is fed, thus preventing the sample dilution. In this study, the effect of the sample-loading (in the unit of g/hr) on the fractionation efficiency (FE, number% of particles in a GSF fraction that have the sizes expected by theory) of the new large scale splitter-less FFD-GSF system was investigated. The system was tested in the sample-loading range of 3.0-12.0 g/hr with polyurethane latex beads (PU) and sea-sediment. It was found that there is an optimum range in the sample-loading for a FFD-GSF separation. It was also found that there is a general tendency of FE decreasing as the concentration of the sample suspension increases.