Band splitting in overloaded isocratic elution chromatography: II. New competitive adsorption isotherms

The equations of two new binary competitive isotherms models are derived. The first of these models assumes that the isotherms of the two pure, single compounds have distinct monolayer capacities. Its derivation is based on kinetic arguments. The ideal adsorbed solution (IAS) framework was applied to derive the second model that is a thermodynamically consistent competitive isotherm. This second model predicts the competitive adsorption isotherm behavior of a mixture of two compounds that have single-component adsorption behavior following a BET and/or a Langmuir isotherms. Both models apply well to the binary adsorption of ethylbenzoate and 4-tert.-butylphenol on a Kromasil-C18 column (with methanol–water, 62:38, v/v, as the mobile phase). The best single-solute adsorption isotherms of these two compounds are the liquid–solid extended multilayer BET and the Langmuir isotherms, respectively. The kinetic and thermodynamic new competitive models were compared, regarding the accuracy of their prediction of the elution band profiles of mixtures of these two compounds. A better agreement between experimental and calculated profiles was observed with the kinetic model. The IAS model failed because the behavior of the ethylbenzoate/4-tert.-butylphenol adsorbed phase mixture is probably non-ideal. The most striking result is the qualitative prediction by these models of the peak splitting of 4-tert.-butylphenol during its elution in presence of ethylbenzoate.