A novel pseudo simulated moving bed with solvent gradient for ternary separations

A novel pseudo simulated moving bed was suggested to separate a ternary mixture. A solvent gradient was created to make the solvent strength decreasing from zone II to zone III. Under suitable conditions, the least retained solute A moved forward and the most retained solute C moved backward in zones II and III whereas the medium retained solute B moved forward in zone II but backward in zone HI to be trapped in the two zones consequently. Once the columns in zones II and III were saturated with solute B, the solvent dissolving the feed was introduced at the feed port to remove solute A from the raffinate-port and solute C from the extract-port. Finally, solute B was recovered from the extract port by stopping the liquid flow in zone II. This scheme was validated by the successful separation of dihydrocapsaicin from capsaicinoids. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.