Column Efficiency
Column efficiency refers to the performance of the stationary phase to accomplish particular separations. This entails how well the column is packed and its kinetic performance (Bidlingmeyer, 1984). The efficiency of a column can be measured by several methods which may or may not be affected by chromatographic anomalies, such as "tailing" or appearance of a "front." This is important because many chromatographic peaks do not appear in the preferred shape of normal Gaussian distribution. For this reason efficiency can be an enigmatic value since manufacturers may use different methods in determining the efficiency of their columns (Bidlingmeyer,. 1984)
Calculation of column efficiency value:
All the following methods use this formula that measures N, or number of
theoretical plates: