Enhanced separation performance of three-zone simulated moving bed chromatography with ModiCon strategy

Abstract

A three-zone simulated moving bed (SMB) chromatography using ModiCon strategy is proposed to enhance the separating performance. In this approach, three fold-concentrated feed and only desorbent are introduced during one-third and two-thirds of the switching time, respectively. The results showed that if the concentrated feed is introduced during the first and the last subsection of switching time, purity of extract and raffinate are improved, respectively, while recovery and other performance indices (i.e., solvent consumption and ratio of desorbent/feed) are slightly decreased. On the other hand, introduction of concentrated feed during the middle subsection of switching time results in an increase of both raffinate and extract purity, as well as the recovery yield. Other performance indices were comparable to those of three-zone SMB without ModiCon.