A study of the effects of temperature and pressure on the retention time in series‐coupled columns under conditions of constant mass flow rate

The technique of controlling chromatographic selectivity by the adjustment of column temperatures in systems of series-coupled columns is investigated by means of a general model incorporating the effects of temperature and mobile phase compressibility. In a previous article the performance of series-coupled columns was investigated under conditions of constant overall pressure drop. The present paper, on the other hand, considers systems in which a constant mass flow rate is maintained at all temperatures. The expressions derived for the effective partition coefficient and the retention time are compared with those of the previous paper. The numerical results for two-column systems exhibit the same major trends as those for constant pressure drop. It is shown that the effective partition coefficient is slightly dependent on the mass flow rate.