Automatic generation of a digital twin for continuous antibody capture

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Chemical Engineering
• Process Automation

Background:

• Digitalization offers enhanced efficiency and sustainability in monoclonal antibody downstream processing.
• Digital twins provide process insights and optimization but are challenging to create.
• Automated generation and calibration of digital twins are needed for wider adoption.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an automated procedure for generating and calibrating digital twins for chromatography.
• To demonstrate the utility of digital twins for process optimization in monoclonal antibody purification.
• To reduce the time and effort required for digital twin acquisition.

Main Methods:

• Automatic generation of a digital twin based on chromatography setup configuration.
• Automated execution of a calibration procedure involving experiments and simulations.
• Application of the digital twin for optimizing yield, resin utilization, and column capacity variations.

Main Results:

• Experimental validation showed a 0.6% difference in yield and resin utilization compared to simulation.
• Optimization for reduced column capacity increased resin utilization by 1.2% with 99.8% yield.
• The automated procedure efficiently generated and calibrated a functional digital twin.

Conclusions:

• The developed procedure enables efficient digital twin generation and calibration for monoclonal antibody downstream processing.
• Integrating digitalization through digital twins can lower production costs and improve sustainability.
• This work represents a significant step towards automated and optimized biopharmaceutical manufacturing.