Optimization of large-scale chromatography of proteins

Protein chromatography is a very complex process based on a combination of thermodynamic, kinetic and mass transport phenomena. By virtue of their com plicated and delicate surface structures, the behaviour of proteins on vari ous chromatographic media is not easy to predict. Together with the fact th at the majority of the chromatographic media for proteins available today a re not very well characterized with regard to their detailed chemical and p hysical surface structures, protein chromatography still has to be regarded as a predominantly empirical science. I.e. the optimization of separation conditions can only be performed by experiments in the laboratory. The scal ing-up is then accomplished primarily by increasing the column diameter. Th is has been shown work well for column diameters up to at least 1,400 mm. T he paper will also deal with the characteristics of the most important prot ein separation media, silica based, polystyrene bared and agarose based, an d with how to best optimize the conditions for column productivity, both fo r adsorption types of chromatography and for gel filtration.