Numerical investigation into the effects of ordered particle packing and slip flow on the performance of chromatography

The pressure drop and the plate height of chromatography columns packed with particles in the face-centered cubic, the body-centered cubic and the simple cubic configurations are calculated by a volume averaging method model. It is found that the Kozeny-Carman equation provides a reasonable prediction of the pressure drop when particles are in the face-centered cubic configuration, but overestimates the pressure drop when particles are in the body-centered cubic and the simple cubic configurations. The face-centered cubic configuration has the advantage to provide a smaller longitudinal dispersion coefficient than the body-centered cubic, the simple cubic, and the random configurations. The pressure drop and the plate height for slip flow through particles in the face-centered cubic configuration are lower than that for no-slip flow. The values of the smallest reduced plate height of columns packed with particles in the face-centered cubic configuration for no-slip flow and slip flow are about 0.084 and 0.059, respectively. The plate height of the ordered particle packing structures is smaller and the effect of slip flow on the plate height is less remarkable than results reported in literature.