(255g) The Role of Material Scale in Bioseparations

Study of transport in porous or structurally-modified media such as nanocomposite gels i.e., gels having nanoparticles embedded into the polymer matrix plays an important role is separation of bio-solutes i.e., proteins, DNA, etc. under different driving forces such as 1D or 2D electric-fields, and pressure gradient. Porous or fibrous media with a heterogeneous structure can be modeled by considering the material as a network of small and large domains having idealized geometries connected to each other through which the solute particles transport. For the current analysis, models of a single domain having two idealized parallel wall sub-domains connected in series to form an expansion or constriction cross-section are studied. Two different geometries such as rectangular and cylindrical are considered. Analytical expressions are derived for the effective transport coefficients such as effective velocity and effective diffusivity as a function of parameters dictating the geometry of the pore, and also the bulk flow rate. The results show the strong dependence of geometry, and also the flow direction on the effective transport parameters which eventually offer insights into the behavior of the system for separation of biomolecules.