A chromatographic procedure for the purification of human plasma albumin

Albumin is obtainable from human blood plasma by an ion exchange chromatographic procedure in a yield of about 95% and a purity well above Pharmacopoeia requirements. Cryosupernatant, factor IX depleted plasma is precipitated with 12 and 25% w/v polyethylene glycol 4000. The second precipitate is dissolved to 8% w/v protein and applied to a DEAE-Sephadex A-50 or a DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B column. Albumin is further purified by chromatography on SP-Sephadex C-50. Gel filtration on Sephadex G-25 is used for desalting prior to lyophilization. The process has been initially designed for fractionation of 50 litres plasma/week but can be further scaled up to meet considerably higher capacity requirements.