[Chromatographic sorbents for the preparative separation of proteins]

Chromatography separation steps are technologically very well accepted in downstream bioprocessing, but progresses are expected on productivity level as well as on cleanability. At large production scale, the driving force for purification processes is the throughput intended as the amount of material separated at a given velocity and for a defined level of purity. The possibility to play on some phases of the separation cycle and on the variation of dynamic binding capacity are clearly useful to diminish the separation time while maintaining high levels of loads. On the other hand, to sanitize properly the sorbents, it has been found that only very strong solutions such as alkaline ethanol or alternated acidic-alkaline solutions are effective. In this general situation, special sorbents are now proposed, withstanding stringent operational situations.