Mass transfer kinetics, band broadening and column efficiency

Abstract

Important progress was recently made in our understanding of the physico-chemical aspects of mass transfer kinetics in chromatographic columns, in methods used for accurate determination of the different contributions to the height equivalent to a theoretical plate (HETP), and in the application of these advances to the elucidation of mass transfer mechanisms in columns packed with recent chromatographic supports (sub-2 μm fully porous particles, sub-3 μm core-shell particles, and monoliths). The independent contributions to the HETP are longitudinal diffusion, eddy dispersion, liquid-solid mass transfer (including trans-particle or trans-skeleton mass transfer and external film mass transfer), and the contributions caused by the thermal heterogeneity of the column. The origin and importance of these contributions are investigated in depth. This work underlines the areas in which improvements are needed, an understanding of the contribution of the external film mass transfer term, a better design of HPLC instruments providing a decrease of the extra-column band broadening contributions to the apparent HETP, the development of better packing procedures giving more radially homogeneous column beds, and new packing materials having a higher thermal conductivity to eliminate the nefarious impact of heat effects in very high pressure liquid chromatography (vHPLC) and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC).