Patent ID: 7767462

Claim:
A method of generating an acid and a base comprising the steps of: (a) providing a source of first ions adjacent an aqueous liquid in a first acid or base generation zone, said first ion source and first zone being separated by a first barrier substantially preventing liquid flow and transporting ions only of the same charge as said first ions, (b) providing a source of second ions of opposite charge to said first ions adjacent an aqueous liquid in a second acid or base generation zone, said second ion source and second zone being separated by a second barrier substantially preventing liquid flow and transporting ions only of the same charge as said second ions, (c) transporting ions of a first charge, positive or negative, across said first barrier by applying an electrical potential through said first zone to electrically charge the same with a charge opposite to said first charge and applying an electrical potential through said second zone to electrically charge the same with a charge opposite to the charge of said first zone so that hydroxide ions are generated in one of said first or second zones and hydronium ions are generated in the other of said first and second zones and ions of opposite charge to the electrical charges of said first and second zones, respectively, are transported across said first and second barriers to combine with said hydroxide or hydronium ions in said first and second zones to generate an acid-containing aqueous solution in one of said first or second zones and a base-containing aqueous solution in the other one, (d) mixing said generated acid-containing and base-containing aqueous solutions to form a salt-containing aqueous solution, and (e) flowing said salt-containing aqueous solution as a chromatography eluent together with a sample analyte solution through chromatography separation medium to chromatographically separate the analytes.