Separation and purification of l-methionine from E. coli fermentation broth by macroporous resin chromatography

Methionine is an essential sulfur-containing amino acid for organisms. The separation and purification are important for the production of l-methionine from fermentation broth. In this work, the adsorption properties for l-methionine separation of ten macroporous resins were firstly evaluated. Macroporous cation resin D72 showed the best adsorption capacity (52.37 mg/g) and desorption rate (99.12%). The adsorption kinetics of l-methionine on D72 resin followed the pseudo second-order model and adsorption isotherm fitted well to the Sips model, the adsorption process mainly followed a physisorption mechanism. D72 resin packed columns were then used in the batch separation of fermentation broth, the operation parameters were optimized during the dynamic adsorption and desorption experiments. Under the optimized conditions: fermentation broth adjusted to pH = 2, loading flow rate at 2 BV/h, loading volume 55 mL, 1 mol/L NH₃·H₂O as eluent, elution flow rate at 2 BV/h, column height-diameter ratio at 14:1, excellent recovery and purity of l-methionine (82.37% and 85.69%, respectively) could be achieved.