PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF LOW-PRESSURE ION-EXCHANGE CHROMATOGRAPHY MEDIA FOR PROTEIN SEPARATION

The physical and functional performance of 70 different anion- and cat ion-exchange media based on cellulose, agarose, dextran and polymeric/ composite materials has been evaluated. Physical tests such as swellin g, flow performance and column packing densities and functional tests including small-ion capacity, protein capacity and chromatographic per formance were carried out on each grade. The data, descriptive rather than prescriptive, demonstrates significant performance differences fr om medium to medium and suggest that a rigorous media screening exerci se be carried out prior to developing an ion-exchange separation proce ss, in order to optimise the efficiency of the process.