The role of Joule heating in dispersive mixing effects in electrophoretic cells: hydrodynamic considerations.

The analysis described in this contribution is focused on the effect of Joule heating generation on the hydrodynamics of batch electrophoretic cells (i.e., cells that do not display a forced convective term in the motion equation). The hydrodynamics of these cells is controlled by the viscous forces and by the buoyancy force caused by the temperature gradients due to the Joule heating generation. The analysis is based on differential models that lead to analytical and/or asymptotic solutions for the temperature and velocity profiles of the cell. The results are useful in determining the characteristics of the temperature and velocity profiles inside the cell. Furthermore, the results are excellent tools to be used in the analysis of the dispersive-mixing of solute when Joule heating generation must be accounted for. The analysis is performed by identifying two sequentially coupled problems. Thus, the "carrier fluid problem" and the "solute problem" are outlined. The former is associated with all the factors affecting the velocity profile and the latter is related to the convective-diffusion aspects that control the spreading of the solute inside the cell. The analysis of this contribution is centered on the discussion of the "carrier fluid problem" only. For the boundary conditions selected in the contribution, the study leads to the derivation of an analytical temperature and a "universal" velocity profile that feature the Joule heating number. The Grashof number is a scaling factor of the actual velocity profile. Several characteristics of these profiles are studied and some numerical illustrations have been included.

Role of Joule heating in dispersive mixing effects in electrophoretic cells: convective-diffusive transport aspects.

This contribution addresses the problem of solute dispersion in a free convection electrophoretic cell for the batch mode of operation, caused by the Joule heating generation. The problem is analyzed by using the two-problem approach originally proposed by Bosse and Arce (Electrophoresis 2000, 21, 1018-1025). The approach identifies the carrier fluid problem and the solute problem. This contribution is focused on the latter. The strategy uses a sequential coupling between the energy, momentum and mass conservation equations and, based on geometrical and physical assumptions for the system, leads to the derivation of analytical temperature and velocity profiles inside the cell. These results are subsequently used in the derivation of the effective dispersion coefficient for the cell by using the method of area averaging. The result shows the first design equation that relates the Joule heating effect directly to the solute dispersion in the cell. Some illustrative results are presented and discussed and their implication to the operation and design of the device is addressed. Due to the assumptions made, the equation may be viewed as an upper boundary for applications such as free flow electrophoresis.