Design of a production gas chromatograph for separating heat-sensitive materials

Summary

A rational design procedure for production and preparative chromatography has previously been devised. Here the procedure is applied to designing a pilot scale production gas chromatograph for separating two heatsensitive essential oil mixtures: geraniol/nerol and α-/β-pinenes. Analytical scale experiments provide some of the data required. A critical feature of the design is that these materials degrade at temperatures well below their boiling points. The design study leads, first, to selection of carrier gas, stationary phase and solid support materials, and then to quantitative determination of column temperature, evaporator temperature, feed concentration in the carrier gas, column diameter, particle size of support, carrier velocity, ratio of recycled to inject feed, injection time, column length, and liquid phase loading.