Simulated moving-bed units with extra-column dead volume

✍ Scribed by Cristiano Migliorini; Marco Mazzotti; Massimo Morbidelli

• Book ID: 101430686
• Publisher: American Institute of Chemical Engineers
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 194 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0001-1541
• DOI: 10.1002/aic.690450706

✦ Synopsis

Simulated mo®ing-bed SMB technology is attracting increased interest for application to the separation of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals, particularly to enantioseparations. Unlike the large-scale UOP Sorbex process, these small-scale units use a series of HPLC columns, and the ®olume of the connecting lines may become comparable to the ®olume of the columns. In this work the effect of extra-column dead ®olume on SMB performance is analyzed, with the aim of pro®iding a conceptual framework to account for it. In particular, guidelines to design SMB operating conditions with nonnegligible extra-column dead ®olumes to achie®e the desired separation performance are pro®ided. These are quantitati®ely assessed through comparison with the results obtained using a detailed SMB model, which accounts for extra-column dead ®olumes. The model allows the extent and the role of extra-column band broadening due to the presence of dead ®olumes to be e®aluated. A set of experimental results on a laboratory SMB unit is discussed in light of the theoretical findings.