• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.4291-4296
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• 2011

Gravitational SPLITT fractionation (GSF) provides separation of colloidal particles into two subpopulations in a preparative scale. Conventionally, GSF is carried out in a thin rectangular channel having two inlets and two outlets at the top and bottom of the channel, respectively. And the channel is equipped with two flow-splitters, one between the top and bottom inlets and another between the top and bottom outlets. A large scale splitter-less GSF system had been developed, which was designed to operate in the full feed depletion (FFD) mode. In the FFD mode, there is only one inlet through which the sample is fed, thus preventing the sample dilution. In this study, the effect of the sample-loading (in the unit of g/hr) on the fractionation efficiency (FE, number% of particles in a GSF fraction that have the sizes expected by theory) of the new large scale splitter-less FFD-GSF system was investigated. The system was tested in the sample-loading range of 3.0-12.0 g/hr with polyurethane latex beads (PU) and sea-sediment. It was found that there is an optimum range in the sample-loading for a FFD-GSF separation. It was also found that there is a general tendency of FE decreasing as the concentration of the sample suspension increases.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.34-41
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• 2013

Split-flow thin cell (SPLITT) fractionation (SF) is a rapid separation technique capable of separating colloidal particles or macromolecules into two or more fractions. SF allows fractionations in a preparative scale as sample is fed continuously. Generally SF uses a thin ribbon-like channel equipped with two flow stream splitters at the inlet and outlet of the channel. Thus there exist two flow inlets and two flow outlets at the top and bottom of the inlet and outlet of the channel, respectively. There are two operating modes in SF, conventional mode and full-feed mode (FFD). Although the resolution in the FFD mode is lower than that in the conventional mode, FFD mode has some merits. The design of the channel and operation are simpler in the FFD mode, as it does not require the feeding of the solvent. Thus there is no flow stream splitter at the channel inlet, and only one pump is needed, unlike the conventional mode, where two pumps are required for the feedings of the sample and the solvent separately. Also the sample is not diluted in the FFD mode as there is no solvent feeding, which is important for fractionation samples with low colloidal concentrations such as environmental samples. For some of environmental samples, pre-concentration is often required. In this study, a new large-scale splitter-less FFD-SF channel was implemented, where there is no splitter at the outlet as well as at the inlet of the channel. It was possible to build the channel in a much larger dimension than conventional ones, allowing much higher sample throughput (TP). The new channel was tested and optimized with polyurethane (PU) latex beads, and then applied to large-scale separation of Polyacrylate (PA).

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.34-40
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• 2014

SPLITT fractionation (SF) allows continuous (and thus a preparative scale) separation of micronsized particles into two size fractions ('fraction-a' and 'fraction-b'). SF is usually carried out in a thin rectangular channel with two inlets and two outlets, which is equipped with flow stream splitters at the inlet and the outlet of the channel, respectively. A new large scale splitter-less gravitational SF (GSF) system had been assembled, which was designed to eliminate the flow stream splitters and thus is operated by the full feed depletion (FFD) mode (FFD-GSF). In the FFD mode, there is only one inlet through which the sample is fed. There is no carrier liquid fed into the channel, and thus prevents the sample dilution. The effects of the sample-feeding flow rate, the channel thickness on the fractionation efficiency (FE, number % of particles that have the size predicted by theory) of FFD-GSF was investigated using industrial polyurethane (PU) latex beads. The carrier liquid was water containing 0.1% FL-70 (particle dispersing agent) and 0.02% sodium azide (used as bactericide). The sample loading rate was varied from about 4 to 7 L/hr with the sample concentration fixed at 0.01%. The GSF channel thickness was varied from 900 to $1300{\mu}m$. Particles exiting the GSF channel were collected and monitored by optical microscopy (OM). Sample recovery was monitored by collecting the fractionated particles on a $0.45{\mu}m$ membrane filter. It was found that FE of fraction-a was increased as the channel thickness increases, and FE of fraction-b was increased as the flow rate was increased. In all cases, the sample recovery has higher than 95%. It seems the new splitter-less FFD GSF system could become a useful tool for large scale separations of various types of micron-sized particles.