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ABSTRACT
The present work consists of the development of a methodology based on reverse-phase frontal chromatography to separate and purify different fractions of wood extract. Equilibrium isotherms of each compound were first determined for 9 ethanol: water concentrations. A model was developed to simulate the profiles obtained by frontal chromatography. The fitting of simulated and experimental profiles led to the validation of the model and to the fact that the studied compounds present linear isotherms even in high concentration ranges. Simulation can therefore be carried out to optimize separations performances. Three purification strategies were considered: (a) separation of the two major classes of families, (b) separation of both Hydroxymatairesinol isomers, and (c) separation of each isomer. The simulation showed a high dependency on ethanol concentration and the best condition for optimizing the load volume was at the lower ethanol concentration (3 v.v.%). For a 250 × 4.6 mm analytical column, the simulation showed that volumes of 6021.0 mL (a), 450.2 mL (b) and 127.9 mL (c) could be loaded. Scale-up criteria are then briefly discussed for large-scale production.
GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Acknowledgment
This project “LBS-Le Bois Santé” received the founding from “Fonds Unique Interministériel, 14ième appel à projet ». The partners of the project, Harmonic Pharma (Nancy-France), Norske Skog (Golbey-France), LERMAB, and LORIA (Vandoeuvre-Les-Nancy-France) are gratefully acknowledged. We thank Amandine Mettais and Carole Etcheverry for their assistance in this study.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.