Multistage electrophoresis system for the separation of cells, particles and solutes

It is common to operate equilibrium-based separation methods, such as distillation and extraction, as multistage unit operations, in which equilibrium is presumably achieved within each stage. Two rate-based separation processes, free electrophoresis and magnetic particle separation, have now been operated in multistage mode. Preparative free electrophoresis of particles and solutes has resisted scale-up and is confined to a narrow range of ionic compositions. Natural convection induced in electrophoresis buffers by Ohmic heating has been a strong deterrent and has led to such measures as radial electrophoresis in Couette flow, free-flow electrophoresis, low-gravity electrophoresis, density gradient electrophoresis, and reorienting density gradient electrophoresis, to name a few. The short vertical electrophoresis path exploited in the last-mentioned forms the basis for multistage electrophoresis. A thin-layer countercurrent distribution apparatus was designed and constructed so that up to 20 fractions could be collected on the basis of electrophoretic mobility by applying an electric field. The mixture to be separated starts in a bottom cavity, and successive top cavities collect fractions as separand particles or molecules are electrophoresed upward out of the bottom cavity. Mathematical models of this process were developed, and experiments were performed to verify the predictions of the models by collecting and counting particles in each cavity after fractionation.