POLYDISPERSE TUBE DIAMETERS COMPROMISE MULTIPLE OPEN-TUBULAR CHROMATOGRAPHY

This article demonstrates that even 1% polydispersity in hollow-fiber diameters can increase plate heights by as much as an order of magnitude. The demonstration includes an analytical extension of the Taylor-Aris and the Golay dispersion theories, a numerical solution using the measured polydisperity, and successful predictions of the performance of different hollow-fiber systems over a range of flow rates. All these results show that the effect of polydispersity can dominate column performance, especially in the region where the column efficiency is optimal.