Microchannels are essential components of microreactor or microseparation devices. In the process of accomodating long microchannels on a small chip area, there exists a choice of channel configurations. The objective of this paper is to understand how microchannel configurations the separation performance of a micro gas chromatographic column operating under laminar conditions.

Three different configurations have been tested: 1)Serpentine, 2)Circular Spiral and, 3)Square Spiral. The results presented here will help future microGC designers in designing high separation efficiency columns. The microchannels are fabricated in silicon and connected to a conventional gas chromatograph operating in high speed mode. The paper will present RTD measurements to compare the gas chromtographic performance of different channel configurations. The coefficients for resistance to mass transfer in gas phase is evaluated and compared for the different configurations. Effect of configurations is demonstrated on separation of organo-phosphate species.

Extended Abstract Status: Not Uploaded