Viscous Fingering Induced Flow Instability in Multidimensional Liquid Chromatography

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2005 · Journal of Chromatography A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2005.04.093· OSTI ID:978129

Mayfield, Kirsty ^[1]; Shalliker, R Andrew ^[1]; Catchpoole, Heather J ^[1]; Sweeney, Alan P ^[1]; Wong, Victor ^[1]; Guiochon, Georges A ^[2]

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1. University of Western Sydney, Australia
2. ORNL

Viscous fingering is a flow instability phenomenon that results in the destabilisation of the interface between two fluids of differing viscosities. The destabilised interface results in a complex mixing of the two fluids in a pattern that resembles fingers. The conditions that enhance this type of flow instability can be found in coupled chromatographic separation systems, even when the solvents used in each of the separation stages have seemingly similar chemical and physical properties (other than viscosity). For example, the viscosities of acetonitrile and methanol are sufficiently different that instability at the interface between these two solvents can be established and viscous fingering results. In coupled chromatographic systems, the volume of solvent transported from one separation dimension to the second often exceeds the injection volume by two or more orders of magnitude. As a consequence, viscous fingering may occur, when otherwise following the injection of normal analytical size injection plugs viscous fingering would not occur. The findings in this study illustrate the onset of viscous fingering in emulated coupled chromatographic systems and show the importance of correct solvent selection for optimum separation performance.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
• Sponsoring Organization: SC USDOE - Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 978129
• Journal Information: Journal of Chromatography A, Journal Name: Journal of Chromatography A Journal Issue: 0 Vol. 1080
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
ACETONITRILE
CHROMATOGRAPHY
DIMENSIONS
FINGERS
INSTABILITY
METHANOL
PERFORMANCE
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SOLVENTS
VISCOSITY