Pressure drop in centrifugal partition chromatography

Centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) is more and more becoming a valuable alternative for conventional preparative chromatographic processes. Pressure drop is one of the main limitations hampering optimum performance of a CPC. A model is presented for the pressure drop over a CPC column. The pressure drop consists of two contributions: the hydrodynamic pressure drop, caused by the how of liquid through the narrow ducts, and the hydrostatic pressure drop, caused by the difference in density between the liquids in the channels and the ducts, and by the centrifugal force. The model contains two adjustable parameters that can be obtained independently by fitting experimental pressure drop data. Two types of column geometries have been tested. The model describes the experimental data well. The total pressure drop is mainly due to the hydrostatic pressure drop.