Transport modelling of a polyelectrolyte in membrane chromatography under an electric field Original Research Article

Electrophoretic separations were theoretically performed for large polyelectrolytes such as DNA in the membrane chromatography. This paper deals with the study of the mass transfer involved in multi-layered membrane chromatography in the presence of an electric field. The different contributions to mass transfer were considered in order to establish a relationship providing intramembrane convection effects as a function of an electric field since a polyelectrolyte is quickly oriented through pores in the field direction. Dimensionless transient mass balance equations were derived considering diffusion and electrophoretic convection, and the mass transfer was theoretically studied using two different Peclet numbers in the fluid and solid phases, showing how the concentration profiles of polyelectrolyte inside a membrane varies in the membrane according to values of Peclet number of an individual polyelectrolyte. Governing equations were solved by an operator theory.