Effect of impregnating agent and relative humidity on surface characteristics of sorbents determined by inverse gas chromatography

Sorbents that potentially can be used for separation of the products of biotechnological conversion of glycerol were examined. Properties of Zeolite 5A, resins: Amberlite, Diaion and their samples impregnated with an aqueous solutions of 1,2,3-propanetriol, 1,3-propanediol, 2,3-butanediol, acetic acid, succinic acid and model fermentation broth were investigated. Because surface properties will probably depend on the ambient humidity the IGC experiments were carried out under different conditions of relative humidity RH = 0, 40 and 80%. Activity of the sorbents surface was expressed by the value of the dispersive component of the free surface energy. Inverse gas chromatography was also used to express acid–base properties of materials described by KA and KD parameters. The changes in the activity of investigated sorbents significantly varied depending on the type of impregnating agent. Moreover, the obtained results demonstrate that humidity can strongly influence, in some cases, the dispersive component of the free surface energy and the ability to specific interactions (KA and KD).