Effects of the back pressure and the temperature on the finite layer thickness of the adsorbed phase layer in supercritical fluid chromatography

The excess adsorption isotherm of ethanol from liquid carbon dioxide on a silicagel column was determined in a range of back pressures and temperatures. The retention patterns of minor disturbance peaks were mapped and their dependences on the applied back pressure and column temperature measured. The analysis of the linear decreasing part of the excess isotherm around its inflection point provided the finite layer thickness of the adsorbed phase. Our results show that increasing the temperature and decreasing the back pressure result in a thicker layer of the layer of enriched organic solvent above the silicagel surface.