Hydrodynamic dispersion of a neutral non-reacting solute in electroosmotic flow

Abstract

Analytical methods are employed to determine the axial dispersion of a neutral non-reacting solute in an incompressible electroosmotic flow. In contrast to previous approaches, the dispersion is obtained here by solving the time-dependent diffusion-advection equation in transformed spatial and temporal coordinates to obtain the two-dimensional late-time concentration field. The coefficient of dispersion arises as a separation eigenvalue, and its value is obtained as a necessary condition for satisfying all of the required boundary conditions. Solutions based on the Debye-Huckel approximation are presented for both a circular tube and a channel of infinite width. These results recover the well-known solutions for dispersion in pressure-driven flows when the Debye length is very large. In this limit, the axial dispersion is proportional to the square of the Peclet number based on the characteristic transverse dimension of the tube or channel. In the tilt of very small Debye lengths, the authors find that the dispersion varies as the square of the Peclet number based on the Debye length. Simple approximations to the coefficient of dispersion as a function of the Debye length and Peclet number are also presented.