Simulation of Chromatographic Processes using SPH

Project information
Period	January 2023 - December 2025

Chromatography is essential in fields like pharmaceuticals, environmental analysis, and the food industry for separating and analyzing complex mixtures. Despite its significance, most chromatographic processes rely on a time-consuming trial-and-error approach. High-fidelity numerical simulations offer a promising alternative by allowing researchers to explore parameters, predict outcomes, and optimize conditions, enhancing efficiency and reducing costs.

To address challenges in chromatographic process simulations, we developed a GPU-based Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) framework LAMAS. SPH is a mesh-free Lagrangian method ideal for simulating fluid flows and complex physics within chromatographic columns. It discretizes the domain into fluid particles, each carrying properties such as position, velocity, and concentration, and is effective for handling irregular boundary conditions.

Our research focuses on fluid dynamics and species transport in chromatographic columns. Initially, we modeled fluid dynamics accurately and efficiently, simulating characteristics of porous media flows, pressure resistance, and velocity distributions. Significant pressure differences along columns required small timesteps and extended simulation times due to the weakly-compressible solver. To improve efficiency and enable larger, better-resolved simulations, we are testing new SPH solvers without these limitations.