HETP (Height Equivalent to a Theoretical Plate) indicator

Indicates the Height Equivalent to a Theoretical Plate (HETP) in cm.

Calculation

where
h = reduced plate height (cm)
dp = particle diameter (cm)

Remarks

The HETP concept is adapted from chemical engineering and thus is a bit awkward here because modern HPLC is done in a continuous fashion rather than in discontinuous one, as is the case with literal plates in other applications. We characterize the ‘efficiency’ of a chromatographic separation by calculating the ‘number of plates’ that a particular column exhibits under a particular set of circumstances. The reduced plate height (h) is a more useful metric of the performance of the column because it takes into account the size of the particles packed into the column.