Modelling the thermal behaviour of the Low-Thermal Mass Liquid Chromatography system

We report upon the experimental investigation of the heat transfer in low thermal mass LC (LTMLC) systems, used under temperature gradient conditions. The influence of the temperature ramp, the capillary dimensions, the material selection and the chromatographic conditions on the radial temperature gradients formed when applying a temperature ramp were investigated by a numerical model and verified with experimental temperature measurements. It was found that the radial temperature gradients scale linearly with the heating rate, quadratically with the radius of the capillary and inversely to the thermal diffusivity. Because of the thermal radial gradients in the liquid zone inside the capillary lead to radial viscosity and velocity gradients, they form an additional source of dispersion for the solutes. For a temperature ramp of 1 K/s and a strong temperature dependence of the retention of small molecules, the model predicts that narrow-bore columns (i.d. 2.1 mm) can be used. For a temperature ramp of 10 K/s, the maximal inner diameter is of the order of 1 mm before a substantial increase in dispersion occurs.