Large-scale membrane adsorbers

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Chemical Engineering
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Efficient separation of biomolecules is crucial for biopharmaceutical production.
• Existing methods often face challenges in scalability and speed.
• Membrane adsorber technology offers potential for improved separation processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a new large-scale membrane adsorber system for rapid biomolecule separation.
• To demonstrate the system's effectiveness and scalability.
• To provide an estimation of productivity for industrial applications.

Main Methods:

• Development of a membrane adsorber system using hollow cylindrical modules.
• Unitized construction allowing for combined parallel and serial module connections.
• Pilot plant testing (21 m2) using hemoglobin as a model substance to generate breakthrough curves.
• Analysis of scale-up potential to 100 m2 and above.
• Preliminary investigation of separation using linear salt gradient elution.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated effectiveness of the membrane adsorber system with hemoglobin breakthrough curves.
• Successful scale-up strategy by parallel connection for capacity and serial connection for performance optimization.
• Estimation of system productivity for large-scale applications.
• Preliminary data on separation performance using gradient elution.

Conclusions:

• The presented membrane adsorber system offers a scalable and efficient solution for rapid biomolecule separation.
• The modular design facilitates easy scale-up for industrial bioprocessing.
• The system shows promise for various biomolecule purification applications.