Polymeric short-fiber chromatographic supports for downstream processing of biomolecules

Fiber chromatography is prominent among the novel systems being developed for downstream processing. In this research, a polymer based anion-exchange support with fiber geometry has been developed. The fiber support has an asymmetric structure, with a dense skin and a porous substructure. Equilibrium adsorption capacities of this support for bovine serum albumin and β-lactoglobulin were measured. Isotherms were obtained at different pH and salt concentrations, and were found to be Langmuirian. It was also found that ion-exchange is the dominant adsorption mechanism, and, due to a large internal surface area, the support has a high adsorption capacity. The fiber support was packed in a bed, and tested for its applicability in the isolation of proteins from dilute solutions. The fiber column is shown to have a significantly lower pressure drop than columns packed with commercial, spherical supports. The frontal throughout for this column was evaluated at different conditions. The throughput was found to increase with flow rate and protein concentration, but the yield dropped with an increase in flow rate. However, the throughput and yield were high when a high concentration of protein was loaded at a low flow rate and washed at a very high flow rate.