POLYMERIC SHORT-FIBER CHROMATOGRAPHIC SUPPORTS FOR DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING OF BIOMOLECULES

Fiber chromatography is prominent among the novel systems being develo ped for downstream processing. In this research, a polymer based anion -exchange support with fiber geometry has been developed. The fiber su pport has an asymmetric structure, with a dense skin and a porous subs tructure. Equilibrium adsorption capacities of this support for bovine serum albumin and beta-lactoglobulin were measured. Isotherms were ob tained at different pH and salt concentrations, and were found to be L angmuirian. It was also found that ion-exchange is the dominant adsorp tion mechanism, and, due to a large internal surface area, the support has a high adsorption capacity. The fiber support was packed in a bed , and tested for its applicability in the isolation of proteins from d ilute solutions. The fiber column is shown to have a significantly low er pressure drop than columns packed with commercial, spherical suppor ts. The frontal throughput for this column was evaluated at different conditions. The throughput was found to increase with flow rate and pr otein concentration, but the yield dropped with an increase in flow ra te. However, the throughput and yield were high when a high concentrat ion of protein was loaded at a low flow rate and washed at a very high flow rate.