DNA binding during expanded bed adsorption and factors affecting adsorbent aggregation

DNA-induced aggregation and contraction of expanded bed adsorption chromatography beds have been examined using strong anion exchanger Q HyperZ and calf thymus DNA in buffers containing added NaCl. Two batches of adsorbent with different ionic capacities were used allowing the effects of different ligand densities to be examined. Very high dynamic binding capacities at 10% breakthrough were found in the absence of added salt. However, the highest binding capacities ( approximately 10 and approximately 19mgDNAml(-1) gel) were found in buffers containing added salt at concentrations of either 0.25 or 0.35M, for the low and high ligand density adsorbents, respectively. Bed contraction was observed, but did not correlate with dynamic binding capacity or with the amount of DNA loaded. No differences in bed contraction were seen by varying the concentration of DNA loaded in the range of 20-80mugml(-1) even though the dynamic binding capacity was reduced as DNA concentration was increased. The extent of bed contraction during DNA loading was found to be a function of added salt concentration and ligand density of the adsorbent. The results imply that ligand density significantly affects the salt tolerance of anion exchangers when binding DNA. However, more importantly, with the adsorbents examined here, attempts to reduce bed aggregation by feedstock conditioning with added salt may increase DNA binding leading to a reduction in expanded bed adsorption performance compromising protein capture in real feedstocks.     

Expanded Bed Chromatography as a Tool for Nanoparticulate Separation: Kinetic Study and Adsorption of Protein Nanoparticles

Expanded bed adsorption was investigated together with its suitability for the practical recovery of nanoparticulate mimics of products such as plasmid DNA and viruses as putative gene therapy vectors. The study assessed the binding of protein nanoparticles fabricated from bovine serum albumin (BSA) with average size of 80 nm as a model system and viral size/charge mimic to the streamline DEAE adsorbent in the expanded bed column chromatography. The adsorption kinetics and adsorption mechanism for the BSA nanoparticles on the adsorbent were studied. In batch adsorption studies, the factors nanoparticle concentration, contact time and adsorbent amount, affecting adsorption isotherms were investigated. Subsequently the data were regressed against the Lagergren equation, which represents a first-order kinetics equation and also against a pseudo-second-order kinetics equation. The results demonstrated that the adsorption process followed a Langmuir isotherm equation. The kinetics of the adsorption process followed a pseudo-second-order kinetics model with a rate constant value of 0.025 g mg^?1 min^?1. The dynamic binding capacity of the BSA nanoparticles on an expanded bed was calculated. The recovery of the nanoparticles was more than 85%.     

Adsorption Strategy of Plasmid DNA Nanoparticulate: Preparative Purification by a Simple Custom Expanded Bed Column

This paper summarizes the critical examination of the hydrodynamic performance of the NBG expanded bed contactor operated with streamline-DEAE adsorbent under various operating conditions for expanded bed adsorption of plasmid DNA nanoparticles from alkaline lysate. The purification process is not RNase-free. In this study, a rapid and efficient scaleable purification protocol obtaining, plasmid DNA nanoparticles (average size of 40 nm) with a high purity level for use as therapeutic agent in customized NBG expanded bed columns was developed. This technique allows efficient levels of binding to the column media and vector purification without centrifugation or filtration steps. Residence time distribution (RTD) studies were exploited to achieve the optimal condition of plasmid DNA nanoparticle (pDNA) recovery upon anion exchange adsorbent in this contactor. In addition, the purification experiments were carried out in the expanded bed columns with settle bed height of 6.0 ± 0.2 cm. NaCl gradient elution enabled the isolation of supercoiled plasmid from low-Mr RNA, cDNA and plasmid variants. Subsequently dynamic binding capacity of the adsorbent was calculated while these values decreased with increase in flow velocity. Moreover, the effect of pH upon the performance of this recovery process and the feedstock volume upon the expanded bed anion exchange purification was investigated. The results demonstrated that separation of low-Mr RNA from plasmid DNA isoforms in the range of pH between 5.5 and 7.5 is achievable in this column. The yield of recovery of pDNA in optimal condition was higher than 88.51% which was a superior result in one-pass frontal chromatography. The generic application of simple customized NBG expanded bed column and its potential for the purification and recovery of plasmid DNA as a nanoparticulate bioproduct is strongly discussed.     

Expanded-bed chromatography in primary protein purification

Chromatography in stable expanded beds enables proteins to be recovered directly from cultivations of microorganisms or cells and preparations of disrupted cells, without the need for prior removal of suspended solids. The general performance of an expanded bed is comparable to a packed bed owing to reduced mixing of the adsorbent particles in the column. However, optimal operating conditions are more restricted than in a packed bed due to the dependence of bed expansion on the size and density of the adsorbent particles as well as the viscosity and density of the feedstock. The feedstock composition may become the most limiting restriction owing to interactions of adsorbent particles with cell surfaces, DNA and other substances, leading to their aggregation and consequently to bed instabilities and channeling. Despite these difficulties, expanded-bed chromatography has found widespread applications in the large scale purification of proteins from mammalian cell and microbial feedstocks in industrial bioprocessing. The basics and implementation of expanded-bed chromatography, its advantages as well as problems encountered in the use of this technique for the direct extraction of proteins from unclarified feedstocks are addressed.     

Modeling of the whole expanded-bed protein adsorption process with yeast cell suspensions as feedstock

Expanded bed adsorption of bovine serum albumin (BSA) directly from a feedstock containing whole yeast cells has been investigated with an anion-exchanger DEAE Spherodex M. In the presence of 6% (w/w) yeast cells, the axial liquid-phase dispersion coefficient was found in the order of 10(-6) m2/s, which felled into the common range of 1.0 x 10(-6)-1.0 x 10(-5) m2/s observed previously without the use of cell suspensions as mobile phase. We found that the static and dynamic binding capacity of BSA decreased with increasing the yeast cell concentration due to the competitive adsorption of cells onto the outer surface of the anion-exchanger. However, because of the small size of the adsorbent, the large pore diffusivity of protein and the favorable column efficiency (low axial dispersion coefficient), the dynamic binding capacity of BSA in the presence of 6% (w/w) cells in the expanded bed reached 86% that of the equilibrium adsorption density. Then, the whole expanded bed adsorption process of BSA in the presence of cells, including feedstock loading, washing and elution steps, was predicted using a mathematical model with parameters all determined independently. In the elution stage, the steric mass-action adsorption isotherm with salt concentration as one of the model parameters was used to predict the step-gradient elution process with salt concentration increases. Computer simulations showed that the model was in good agreement with the experimental results for the whole operation process.     

一种球形纤维素/钛白粉扩张床吸附剂的研究--组成对性能的影响

采用反相悬浮再生法 ,以超细钛白粉颗粒作增重剂 ,包埋于纤维素骨架之中 ,经环氧氯丙烷活化后与二乙胺连接 ,制得一种球形扩张床吸附剂 .研究表明 ,吸附剂的密度、机械强度和孔结构可以随钛白粉用量的变化而改变 ;钛白粉颗粒的掺入有利于基质的活化 ,活化后环氧基含量可达 2 2 0 μmol mL .吸附剂具有良好的扩张床性能 ,扩张床中的蛋白质吸附行为与填充床中相似 ,吸附容量为 4 8 9mg牛血清白蛋白 mL吸附剂     

Heat Transfer Enhancement on the Adsorber of Adsorption Heat Pump

Three methods for improving the heat transfer of the adsorber have been developed in this paper. First, an electrically conductive polyaniline was applied for enhancing the thermal conductivity of adsorbent bed. A thermally conductive composite of polyaniline and adsorbent was prepared by chemical oxidative in situ polymerization of aniline onto the surface of adsorbent particles. A thin thermal conducting net on the surface of the adsorbent particles was grown. The experimental results indicated that the thermal conductivity of this composite could be increased to approximately 4 times that of the raw adsorbent. Second, the adsorbent bed was shaped by a compressing process. This process can reduce the thermal resistance among the adsorbent particles and the contact thermal resistance between the adsorbent bed and the heat exchanger. The thermal conductivity of the shaped adsorbent bed itself from the tests can be increased 30% when the density of the solid adsorbent bed is 1.5 times that of its original density. Furthermore, the adsorption capacity of the above treated adsorbent did not decrease obviously. Third, a proper design of adsorber has been introduced and analyzed. Further tests of this design will be conducted soon.     

Affinity purification of proteins using expanded beds.

The use of expanded beds of affinity adsorbents for the purification of proteins from feedstocks containing whole or broken cells is described. It is demonstrated that such feedstocks can be applied to the bed without prior removal of particulate material by centrifugation or filtration thus showing considerable potential for this approach in simplifying downstream processing flow-sheets. A stable, expanded bed can be obtained using simple equipment adapted from that used for conventional packed bed adsorption and chromatography processes. Circulation and mixing of the adsorbent particles is minimal and liquid flow through the expanded bed shows characteristics similar to those of plug flow. Frontal analysis performed with the highly selective affinity system involving the adsorption of human polyclonal immunoglobulin G onto Protein A Sepharose Fast Flow indicate that the adsorption performance of the expanded bed is similar to that achieved when the same amount of adsorbent is used in a packed configuration at the same volumetric flow-rate. The adsorption performance of the expanded bed was not diminished when adsorption was carried out in the presence of intact yeast cells. Batch adsorption experiments also indicated that the adsorption characteristics of the affinity system were not greatly altered in the presence of cells in contrast to results from a less selective ion-exchange system. An expanded bed of Cibacron Blue Sepharose Fast Flow was used to purify phosphofructokinase from feedstock of disrupted yeast prepared by high pressure homogenisation without the need for prior removal of particulate material. The potential for the use of expanded beds in large scale purification systems is discussed.     

Adsorption in columns packed with porous adsorbent particles having partially fractal structures

A mathematical model is constructed and solved that could describe the dynamic behavior of the adsorption of a solute of interest in single and stratified columns packed with partially fractal porous adsorbent particles. The results show that a stratified column bed whose length is the same as that of a single column bed, provides larger breakthrough times and a higher dynamic utilization of the adsorptive capacity of the particles than those obtained from the single column bed, and the superior performance of the stratified bed becomes especially more important when the superficial velocity of the flowing fluid stream in the column is increased to accommodate increases in the system throughput. This occurs because the stratified column bed provides larger average external and intraparticle mass transfer and adsorption rates per unit length of packed column. It is also shown that increases in the total number of recursions of the fractal and the ratio of the radii between larger and smaller microspheres that make up the partially fractal particles, increase the intraparticle mass transfer and adsorption rates and lead to larger breakthrough times and dynamic utilization of the adsorptive capacity of the particles. The results of this work indicate that highly efficient adsorption separations could be realized through the use of a stratified column comprised from a practically reasonable number of sections packed with partially fractal porous adsorbent particles having reasonably large (i) total number of recursions of the fractal and (ii) ratio of the radii between larger and smaller microspheres from which the partially fractal particles are made from. It is important to mention here that the physical concepts and modeling approaches presented in this work could be, after a few modifications of the model, applied in studying the dynamic behavior of chemical catalysis and biocatalysis in reactor beds packed with partially fractal porous catalyst particles.     

Nd-Fe-B alloy-densified agarose gel for expanded bed adsorption of proteins

Novel dense composite adsorbents for expanded bed adsorption of protein have been fabricated by coating 4% agarose gel onto Nd-Fe-B alloy powder by a water-in-oil emulsification method. Two composite matrices, namely Nd-Fe-B alloy-densified agarose (NFBA) gels with different size distributions and densities, NFBA-S (50-165 microm, 1.88 g/ml) and NFBA-L (140-300 microm, 2.04 g/ml), were produced. Lysozyme was used as a model protein to test the adsorption capacity and kinetics for the NFBA gels modified by Cibacron blue 3GA (CB-NFBA gels). Liquid-phase dispersion behavior in the expanded beds was examined by measurements of residence time distributions, and compared with that of Streamline SP (Amersham-Pharmacia Biotech, Sweden). The dependence of axial mixing in the expanded beds on flow velocity, bed expansion degree. settled bed height, and viscosity of liquid phase was investigated. Breakthrough curves of lysozyme in the expanded beds of the CB-NFBA gels were also examined. The dynamic binding capacity at 5% breakthrough was 23.3 mg/ml matrix for the CB-NFBA-S gels, and 16.7 mg/ml matrix for the CB-NFBA-L, at a flow velocity of 220 cm/h. The results indicate that the NFBA gels are promising for expanded bed adsorption of proteins.     

Adsorption of plasmid DNA on anion exchange chromatography media

Anion exchange chromatography (AEC) is a useful and effective tool for DNA purification, but due to average pore sizes between 40 and 100 nm most AEC resins lack truly useful binding capacities for plasmid DNA (pDNA). Equilibrium binding capacities and uptake kinetics of AEC media including conventional media (Source 30 Q, Q Sepharose HP), a polymer grafted medium (Fractogel EMD DEAE (M)), media with large pores (Celbeads DEAE, PL SAX 4000 A 30 microm) and a monolithic medium (CIM-DEAE) were investigated by batch uptake or shallow bed experiments at two salt concentrations. Theoretical and experimental binding capacities suggest that the shape of the pDNA molecule can be described by a rod with a length to diameter ratio of 20:1 and that the molecule binds in upright position. The arrangement of DNA like a brush at the surface can be considered as entropy driven, kind of self-assembly process which is inherent to highly and uniformly charged DNA molecules. The initial phase of adsorption is very fast and levels off, associated with a change in mass transfer mechanism. Feed concentrations higher than 0.1 mg/mL pDNA pronounce this effect. Monolithic media showed the fastest adsorption rate and highest binding capacity with 13 mg pDNA per mL.     

Adsorption in a stratified column bed packed with porous particles having partially fractal structures and a distribution of particle diameters

Stratified column bed systems whose sections are formed by packing adsorbent particles with a partially fractal structure are proposed and studied. The simulation results clearly show that the breakthrough times and the shape of the breakthrough curves obtained from stratified column beds are significantly larger and sharper than those obtained from conventional columns. The stratified column beds provide, to the designer and user of chromatographic column systems, more degrees of freedom with respect to the number of parameters and variables that could be controlled in the design, construction, and operation of efficient chromatographic adsorption systems. Furthermore, the results suggest that the stratified column beds could provide a higher dynamic adsorptive capacity than conventional columns when it is required to increase the column throughput.     

The interplay of diffusional and electrophoretic transport mechanisms of charged solutes in the liquid film surrounding charged nonporous adsorbent particles employed in finite bath adsorption systems

A model that describes the diffusive and electrophoretic mass transport of the cation and anion species of a buffer electrolyte and of a charged adsorbate in the liquid film surrounding nonporous adsorbent particles in a finite bath adsorption system, in which adsorption of the charged adsorbate onto the charged surface of the nonporous particles occurs, is constructed and solved. The dynamic behavior of the mechanisms of this model explicitly demonstrates (a) the interplay between the diffusive and electrophoretic molar fluxes of the charged adsorbate and of the species of the buffer electrolyte in the liquid film surrounding the nonporous adsorbent particles, (b) the significant effect that the functioning of the electrical double layer has on the transport of the charged species and on the adsorption of the charged adsorbate, and (c) the substantial effect that the dynamic behavior of the surface charge density has on the functioning of the electrical double layer. It is found that at equilibrium, the value of the concentration of the charged adsorbate in the fluid layer adjacent to the surface of the adsorbent particles is significantly greater than the value of the concentration of the adsorbate in the finite bath, while, of course, the net molar flux of the charged adsorbate in the liquid film is equal to zero at equilibrium. This result is very different than that obtained from the conventional model that is currently used to describe the transport of a charged adsorbate in the liquid film for systems involving the adsorption of a charged adsorbate onto the charged surface of nonporous adsorbent particles; the conventional model (i) does not consider the existence of an electrical double layer, (ii) assumes that the transport of the charged adsorbate occurs only by diffusion in the liquid film, and (iii) causes at equilibrium the value of the charged adsorbate in the liquid layer adjacent to the surface of the particles to become equal to the value of the concentration of the charged adsorbate in the liquid of the finite bath. Furthermore, it was found that a maximum can occur in the dynamic behavior of the concentration of the adsorbate in the adsorbed phase when the value of the free molecular diffusion coefficient of the adsorbate is relatively large, because the increased magnitude of the synergistic interplay between the diffusive and electrophoretic molar fluxes of the adsorbate in the liquid film allows the adsorbate to accumulate (to be entrapped) in the liquid layer adjacent to the surface of the adsorbent particles faster than the concentrations of the electrolyte species, whose net molar fluxes are significantly hindered due to their opposing diffusive and electrophoretic molar fluxes, can adjust to account for the change in the surface charge density of the particles that arises from the adsorption of the charged adsorbate. The results presented in this work also have significant implications in finite bath adsorption systems involving the adsorption of a charged adsorbate onto the surface of the pores of charged porous adsorbent particles, because the diffusion and the electrophoretic migration of the charged solutes (cations, anions, and charged adsorbate) in the pores of the adsorbent particles will depend on the dynamic concentration profiles of the charged solutes in the liquid film surrounding the charged porous adsorbent particles. The results of the present work are also used to illustrate how the functioning of the electrical double layer could contribute to the development of inner radial humps (concentration rings) in the concentration of the adsorbate in the adsorbed phase of charged porous adsorbent particles.     

Surface modification of chromatography adsorbents by low temperature low pressure plasma

In this study we show how low temperature glow discharge plasma can be used to prepare bi-layered chromatography adsorbents with non-adsorptive exteriors. The commercial strong anion exchange expanded bed chromatography matrix, Q HyperZ, was treated with plasmas in one of two general ways. Using a purpose-designed rotating reactor, plasmas were employed to either: (i) remove anion exchange ligands at or close to the exterior surface of Q HyperZ, and replace them with polar oxygen containing functions (‘plasma etching and oxidation’); or (ii) bury the same surface exposed ligands beneath thin polymer coatings (‘plasma polymerization coating’) using appropriate monomers (vinyl acetate, vinyl pyrrolidone, safrole) and argon as the carrier gas. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis (first ∼10 nm depth) of Q HyperZ before and after the various plasma treatments confirmed that substantial changes to the elemental composition of Q HyperZ's exterior had been inflicted in all cases. The atomic percent changes in carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, yttrium and zirconium observed after being exposed to air plasma etching were entirely consistent with: the removal of pendant Q (trimethylammonium) functions; increased exposure of the underlying yttrium-stabilised zirconia shell; and introduction of hydroxyl and carbonyl functions. Following plasma polymerization treatments (with all three monomers tested), the increased atomic percent levels of carbon and parallel drops in nitrogen, yttrium and zirconium provided clear evidence that thin polymer coats had been created at the exteriors of Q HyperZ adsorbent particles. No changes in adsorbent size and surface morphology, nor any evidence of plasma-induced damage could be discerned from scanning electron micrographs, light micrographs and measurements of particle size distributions following 3 h exposure to air (220 V; 35.8 W L⁻¹) or ‘vinyl acetate/argon’ (170 V; 16.5 W L⁻¹) plasmas. Losses in bulk chloride exchange capacity before and after exposure to plasmas enabled effective modification depths within hydrated Q HyperZ adsorbent particles to be calculated as 0.2–1.2 μm, depending on the conditions applied. The depth of plasma induced alteration was strongly influenced by the power input and size of the treated batch, i.e. dropping the power or increasing the batch size resulted in reduced plasma penetration and therefore shallower modification. The selectivity of ‘surface vs. core’ modification imparted to Q HyperZ by the various plasma treatments was evaluated in static and dynamic binding studies employing appropriate probes, i.e. plasmid DNA, sonicated calf thymus DNA and bovine serum albumin. In static binding studies performed with adsorbents that had been exposed to plasmas at the 5 g scale (25 g L⁻¹ of plasma reactor), the highest ‘surface/core’ modification selectivity was observed for Q HyperZ that had been subjected to 3 h of air plasma etching at 220 V (35.8 W L⁻¹). This treatment removed ∼53% of ‘surface’ DNA binding at the expense of a 9.3% loss in ‘core’ protein binding. Even more impressive results were obtained in dynamic expanded bed adsorption studies conducted with Q HyperZ adsorbents that had been treated with air (220 V, 3 h) and ‘vinyl acetate/argon’ (170 V, 3 h) plasmas at 10.5 g scale (52.5 g L⁻¹ of plasma reactor). Following both plasma treatments: the 10% breakthrough capacities of the modified Q HyperZ adsorbents towards ‘surface’ binding DNA probes dropped very significantly (30–85%); the DNA induced inter-particle cross-linking and contraction of expanded beds observed during application of sonicated DNA on native Q HyperZ was completely eradicated; but the ‘core’ protein binding performance remained unchanged cf. that of the native Q HyperZ starting material.     

Immobilised metal affinity chromatography of beta-galactosidase from unclarified Escherichia coli homogenates using expanded bed adsorption

The development of an expanded bed process for the direct extraction and partial purification of beta-galactosidase from unclarified Escherichia coli homogenates using its natural affinity for metal loaded STREAMLINE Chelating is described. Small packed beds were used to determine the effect of chelated metal ion (Cu2+, Ni2+, Co2+ or Zn2+), loading pH and ionic strength on the selective binding capacity, and recovery of beta-galactosidase from clarified homogenates. An elution protocol was developed using the competitive displacer, imidazole, to recover beta-galactosidase in 87% yield and 3.4-fold purification. These results were then used to develop a separation for the recovery of beta-galactosidase from unclarified homogenates in a 2.5-cm diameter expanded bed. Although Ni2+ loaded STREAMLINE Chelating had a 5% dynamic capacity for beta-galactosidase of just 118 U ml(-1) (0.39 mg ml(-1)), the low capacity was thought to be due to the large size of the target (464,000) relative to the exclusion limit of the macroporous adsorbent. Despite this low capacity, Ni2 STREAMLINE Chelating was used successfully to recover beta-galactosidase from an unclarified homogenate in 86.4% yield and at 5.95-fold purification. The degree of purification relative to a commercial standard, as assessed using the purification factor and sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was high suggesting that this pseudo-affinity procedure compared favourably with alternative methods.     

Direct capture of product from fermentation broth using a cell-repelling ion exchanger

A new technique for treating anion exchangers has been proposed allowing direct capture of the fermentation product, shikimic acid directly from the cell-containing fermentation broth. A layer of hydrophilic polymer, poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) has been physically adsorbed on the anion exchanger followed by a covalent cross-linking of PAA. The PAA layer is penetrable for small molecules despite being negatively charged as PAA is, but the polymer layer repels large negatively charged structures like cell debris and cells preventing them from adsorption to the chromatographic matrix. The binding capacity for pure shikimic was about 81 mg/ml adsorbent for both cross-linked PAA-Amberlite and native Amberlite in the fluidized mode of column operation. Binding capacity dropped to 17 and 15 mg per ml adsorbent, respectively, when using filtrated fermentation broth and to about 10 mg/ml adsorbent for cross-linked PAA-Amberlite when using directly the fermentation broth containing cells. Native Amberlite cannot be used for the direct capture of shikimic acid due to the immediate clogging of the column and the collapse of the expanded bed. The cross-linked PAA-Amberlite was used repeatedly for the direct adsorption of shikimic acid from the industrial fermentation broth.     

Evaluation of new high-density ion exchange adsorbents for expanded bed adsorption chromatography

New adsorbents Q HyperZ and CM HyperZ composed of hydrogel-filled porous zirconium oxide particles were evaluated for expanded bed adsorption applications in the present work. The HyperZ adsorbents have wet density of 3.16 g ml(-1), particle size of 44.5-100.8 microm and average sphere diameter of 67 microm. The bed expansion as the function of flow velocity and fluid viscosity was measured and correlated with Richardson-Zaki equation. The suitable expansion factor was considered less than 2.5, while the corresponding flow velocity was about 450 cmh(-1). Liquid mixing in the bed was determined to evaluate the stability of expanded bed. The Bodenstein numbers tested were higher than 40 and the axial mixing coefficients (D(ax)) were between 0.5 and 9.7x10(-6)m(2)s(-1), which demonstrated that a stable expanded bed could be formed under suitable operation conditions. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and lysozyme were used as model proteins to estimate the adsorption capacities of Q and CM HyperZ, respectively. The maximum equilibrium adsorption of Q and CM HyperZ could reach 45.7 and 27.2 mg g(-1) drained adsorbents, respectively. It was found that yeast cells had little influence on the adsorption capacities of the two adsorbents tested. The dynamic adsorption capacity of BSA at 10% breakthrough with Q HyperZ was 35.9 mg g(-1) drained adsorbent at flow velocity of 100 cm h(-1) for packed bed adsorption. The values for expanded bed adsorption were 34.4 mg g(-1) drained adsorbent at flow velocity of 200 cm h(-1), 33.6 mg g(-1) drained adsorbent at 300 cm h(-1) and 31.7 mg g(-1) drained adsorbent 400 cm h(-1). The results demonstrated that Q HyperZ and CM HyperZ are suitable for expanded bed adsorption of biomolecules.     

Fabrication and Characterization of a Dye-Immobilized Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia Pellicular Adsorbent for Expanded Bed Adsorption Chromatography

This study deals with the fabrication and characterization of a pellicular adsorbent appropriate for the expanded bed adsorption (EBA) process. The synthesized adsorbent has an yttria-stabilized zirconia nucleus coated with agarose. Morphological analysis of the coated particles was performed by light-scattering microscopy and showed an average diameter of 197.54 and 202.25 µm, for the nucleus and coated particle, respectively. A screening for the reactive dyes reactive blue 19 (RB19), reactive blue 21 (RB21) and reactive orange 107 (RO107) was performed after immobilization onto the pellicular adsorbent by changing the pH, aiming at finding the binding capacity of these to adsorb bovine serum albumin (BSA). The reactive orange 107 was selected and it was more stable at pH 4.5. Study of the kinetics between BSA and the dye-immobilized particle showed that equilibrium is reached before 1 h. The adsorption isotherm of BSA onto RO107-immobilized adsorbent fitted the Langmuir model showing a q_m = 102.328 mg BSA/mL of adsorbent. The pellicular adsorbent also showed good expansion even at a high operating flow rate. Therefore, at a linear velocity as high as 2725 cm/h, a dynamic capacity of 15.7 mg of BSA/mL of adsorbent was obtained.     

The dynamic behavior of a stratified column bed packed with porous adsorbent particles having partially fractal structures and a nonuniform ligand density distribution

The dynamic behavior of adsorption in a single column and in stratified column beds packed with porous adsorbent particles having partially fractal structures is studied when all columns have the same total length and the spatial ligand density distribution in the porous microspheres from which the porous adsorbent particles are made, is either uniform or nonuniform and such that the concentration of the immobilized ligands (active sites) increases monotonically from the center of the microspheres to their outer surface. The total number of immobilized ligands in the porous adsorbent particles has the same value whether the spatial ligand density distribution is uniform or nonuniform. The results in this study clearly show that for a given value of the superficial velocity of the flowing fluid stream in the column (for a given value of throughput) the breakthrough time is significantly increased when the radius of the microspheres is decreased, the total number of sections of the stratified column bed is increased, and the spatial ligand density distribution employed in the microspheres is nonuniform. Furthermore, when the superficial velocity of the flowing fluid stream in the column is increased (throughput is increased) the effect that (i) the reduction in the radius of the microspheres and (ii) the increase in the number of sections of the stratified column bed have on providing robust and effective dynamic adsorptive capacity and smaller reductions on the breakthrough time is substantially larger than that realized through the use of the nonuniform ligand density distribution. Similar trends are also observed in the dynamic behavior of adsorption in the systems studied here when the value of the concentration of the adsorbate in the flowing fluid stream entering the column (inlet concentration) has such a high magnitude that the value of the equilibrium concentration of the adsorbate in the adsorbed phase determined from the equilibrium Langmuir isotherm that would correspond to the inlet concentration of the adsorbate in the flowing fluid stream is, for all practical purposes, at its saturation limit.     

Size‐selective purification of hepatitis B virus‐like particle in flow‐through chromatography: Types of ion exchange adsorbent and grafted polymer architecture

Hepatitis B virus‐like particles expressed in Escherichia coli were purified using anion exchange adsorbents grafted with polymer poly(oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate) in flow‐through chromatography mode. The virus‐like particles were selectively excluded, while the relatively smaller sized host cell proteins were absorbed. The exclusion of virus‐like particles was governed by the accessibility of binding sites (the size of adsorbents and the charge of grafted dextran chains) as well as the architecture (branch‐chain length) of the grafted polymer. The branch‐chain length of grafted polymer was altered by changing the type of monomers used. The larger adsorbent (90 μm) had an approximately twofold increase in the flow‐through recovery, as compared to the smaller adsorbent (30 μm). Generally, polymer‐grafted adsorbents improved the exclusion of the virus‐like particles. Overall, the middle branch‐chain length polymer grafted on larger adsorbent showed optimal performance at 92% flow‐through recovery with a purification factor of 1.53. A comparative study between the adsorbent with dextran grafts and the polymer‐grafted adsorbent showed that a better exclusion of virus‐like particles was achieved with the absorbent grafted with inert polymer. The grafted polymer was also shown to reduce strong interaction between binding sites and virus‐like particles, which preserved the particles’ structure.