抄録
Magnetic chromatography (MC), a new application of superconducting magnet technology, is promising for analyzing ultra-fine particles with diameters of several tens nanometers, which are too large for conventional liquid chromatography techniques. Magnetic chromatography systems use ferromagnetic wires in a strong magnetic field to create high magnetic field gradients. The fluid velocity is low near the wires, so that particles with high magnetic susceptibility are drawn to the wires, and are separated from the particles of low susceptibility. Because MC columns can be easily cleaned by switching off the applied magnetic field, MC systems generate no secondary waste, which is a common problem with conventional chromatographic systems. In this report, we describe a numerical model of MC systems we developed, and show the effect of the width of particle size distributions on both the steady-state spatial particle distribution and on the MC separation efficiency. Our simulation results show that as the size distribution widens, the steady-state particle concentration increases near the ferromagnetic wires used to generate the high-intensity magnetic force, and decreases the separation efficiency at low flow velocities.
