Experimental Study of Continuous Separation of Enantiomers by Simulated Moving Bed Chromatography

Abstract

The separation of 1,1’-bi-2-naphthol racemic mixtures using the simulated moving bed (SMB) method with chiral columns of Pirkle D-Phenylglycine was investigated experimentally in this study. A quick method was used to determine the optimal operating conditions for the SMB system. This was based on the “triangle theory,” and good separation conditions were found based on the experimental results of a series of SMB experiments conducted around the complete separation region of the “triangle theory.” This method was also used to study the effects of several operating parameters, including the feed flow rate, switch time, feed concentration, column length and bed configuration, on the SMB performance. Good separation (with purity and recovery of each isomer higher than 98%) was achieved for the model system in an eight-column SMB unit using a 10 cm column length.