Modeling Transport in Gas Chromatography Columns for the Micro-ChemLab

摘要

The gas chromatography (GC) column is a critical component in the microsystem for211u001echemical detection (pChemLabTM) being developed at Sandia. The goal is to etch a 211u001e'meter-long' GC column onto a l-cm2 silicon chip while maintaining good 211u001echromatographic performance. Our design strategy is to use a modeling and 211u001esimulation approach. We have developed an analytical tool that models the 211u001etransport and surface interaction process to achieve an optimized design of the 211u001eGC column. This analytical tool has a flow module and a separation module. The 211u001eflow module considers both the compressibility and slip flow effects that may 211u001esignificantly influence the gas transport in a long and narrow column. The 211u001eseparation module models analyze transport and physico-chemical interaction with 211u001ethe coated surface in the GC column. It predicts the column efficiency and 211u001eperformance. Results of our analysis will be presented in this paper.