Application of perfluorocarbons in novel continuous counter-current protein chromatography

In this work the development of a process capable of extracting proteins from particulate-containing solutions (such as fermentation broths) on a continuous basis, and in which absorbent and process streams are contacted counter-currently is described. The process consists of four stages, required for the loading, washing, elution and regeneration of the adsorbent. Because of its counter-current nature, it has improved performance over existing (though not yet commercialized) continuous processes, which have been based on CSTR-type contractors (e.g. PERCAS (McCreath et al., 1993). The improved efficiency has been shown by carrying out extraction of lysozyme from a single component feed stream. The adsorbent used in this work is a Procion Red HE-7B-derivatized perfluorocarbon support, which has shown particular suitability for continuous processes due to its inherently high mechanical strength and high density. Results illustrating yields obtained using this equipment are presented and discussed.