New approach for calculating ideal chromatograms from arbitrary composite distribution isotherms

Abstract

A new method for the calculation of ideal chromatograms is presented. It is based on the solution of the eigenvector problem as occurs in the consideration of system peaks. As the resulting eigenvectors are tangential to the paths governing the shape of ideal chromatograms, these paths can be found by following the direction of the eigenvectors in composition space, this process being equivalent to the numerical integration of simultaneous differential equations, with the eigenvectors as the derivatives. The method has the advantage that new shapes of composite isotherms do not require more mathematical effort than inserting the corresponding expressions in the program source. So far the method has been developed for describing the phenomena at the front and the rear of a rectangular band that still has a region where the injected concentration is preserved. However, the application to fully deformed bands peaks and to systems with more than two components seems entirely feasible.