ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on chromatographic processes that have been operated or have the potential to operate on a production scale. It aims to present a concise summary of the principles underlying chromatographic behavior and the approaches that have been followed in modeling simulated countercurrent systems. The chapter deals with equilibrium theory, dynamic modeling of transient operations, and the modeling of quasi-steady-state countercurrent systems. The broad features of chromatographic behavior are governed by adsorption equilibrium rather than by kinetics. A useful qualitative guide to the behavior of an adsorption column, and hence of chromatographic processes, may therefore be obtained from equilibrium theory. Equilibrium theory can provide useful guidance concerning the qualitative form of the chromatographic response, but in a real chromatographic column dispersive effects are generally significant and must therefore be allowed for in modeling system behavior. Linearity of the equilibrium relationship is easily tested experimentally by varying the pulse size.
