An Airlift Crystallizer for Protein Crystallization

Abstract

Crystallization is an attractive separation and purification technique for proteins. However, protein crystallization often suffers from long batch times due to slow crystallization kinetics. Furthermore, brittle protein crystals may be subject to attrition in conventional crystallizers. An airlift crystallizer is fabricated using three-dimensional (3D) printing and characterized for crystallization of lysozyme. The desupersaturation profile is substantially shorter in the airlift crystallizer compared to a conventional stirred tank crystallizer for all tested conditions. Furthermore, the crystals from the airlift crystallizer are larger and less agglomerated. Finally, the biological activity of the product indicates that the airlift crystallizer preserves the functionality of the protein well. The increased throughput and larger crystals with reduced agglomeration demonstrate that an airlift crystallizer is well suitable for crystallization of a protein. This work also demonstrates how 3D printing can be used to fabricate innovative crystallizers rapidly and at a lower cost, which is especially important for early learning during process development.