Experimental Setup and Graphical User Interface for Zero-Length Column Chromatography

Abstract

This work describes the design and implementation of a Zero-Length Column system to measure: diffusion coefficients, adsorption isotherm parameters of pure components and mixtures. In addition, a graphical user interface (GUI) was developed in LabVIEW for the semi-automatic operation of the system. The system is novel because it integrates all the aforementioned functionalities without using mass spectrometry. Two adsorbents, zeolite 5A and Basolite® C300 (Copper benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate) and two adsorbates methane and ethane were used to perform the validation of adsorption and diffusion experiments. The Henry constants and diffusion coefficients obtained reproduce those previously reported. The combination of the experimental setup and the GUI significantly reduce the amount of sample and measurement time needed in the characterization of the molecular sieves by conventional volumetric and gravimetric systems. The proposed system is relatively inexpensive, robust, easy to build, and capable of reproducing the results of other techniques.