title: Evaporative light scattering detector: toward a general molecular weight cutoff characterization of nanofiltration membranes.
abstract: An evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) coupled with HPLC was used for the first time to characterize membranes. Polydispersed PEG-200, 600, and 1000 were selected as probe molecules to study the dependence of membrane retention on molecular weight via a gradient eluted HPLC separation coupled to ELSD detection. The results show that HPLC/ELSD is a really general and powerful technique to study the nanofiltration (NF) process since it does not require any special properties for the solutes (chromospheres or fluorophores) and possesses the required sensitivity. Especially in solvent resistant NF (SRNF), where a wide range of organic solvents is used, the ELSD detector was not affected by the interaction between solvent and solutes, which is a critical issue compared to other more common detectors.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 23, Box 2461, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Xianfeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Monsuur
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Denoulet
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dobrak
authors.forename: Pieter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vandezande
authors.forename: Ivo F J
authors.initials: IF
authors.lastname: Vankelecom
mesh_terms: D004340:Drug Contamination / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000517:prevention & control; D008027:Light; D057230:Limit of Detection; D015394:Molecular Structure; D008970:Molecular Weight; D012031:Refractometry / Q000379:methods*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation