ABSTRACT
Several studies have focused recently on the determination of the optimum experimental conditions and column design parameters of separations in preparative liquid chromatography. The nonlinear nature of preparative chromatography complicates the separation process so much that the derivation of general conclusions regarding the optimum conditions is a rather difficult, if not impossible, task. The optimization of preparative chromatography is further complicated by the fact that the choice of the objective function is not simple. In industrial applications, the production cost would be the major factor to consider. However, many components of the production cost are beyond the scope of the separation process itself. Accordingly, a more straightforward approach is chosen, and usually simply the production rate is maximized [1, 2].
