Relationship between retention, linear velocity and flow for counter-current chromatography

A recent paper by Du et al. [J. Chromatogr. A, 835 (1999) 231] showed a very good correlation between the retention of stationary phase and the square root of mobile phase flow (F1/2) for 12 different phase systems in counter-current chromatography. This paper shows there is a relationship between the above retention and the linear velocity of the mobile phase. In this way, Du et al.’s results can be related to the kinematics of the mobile phase flow in the tubing. This will open the door for further engineering analysis of this fluid dynamic phenomenon.