New Developments in Simulated Moving Bed Chromatography

Abstract

AbstractChromatographic separation processes are widely used to isolate and purify value added products. Most frequently, such separation processes are performed exploiting the principles of injecting samples of the feed mixture in a repetitive periodic manner and collecting the target products batchwise. In the early 1960s, an alternative operation principle based on using several columns connected in series and exploiting a continuous countercurrent movement between the mobile and stationary phases initiated significant improvements in performing specific separation processes in the petrochemical and sugar industries. In the last decade, the so‐called simulated moving bed (SMB) chromatography has rapidly entered the pharmaceutical industry. In particular enantioseparations using chiral stationary phases have become a strong driving force to develop more sophisticated concepts of continuous chromatography. Currently, the growing interest in efficient methods for the downstream processing of biomolecules enhances interest in SMB processes. This paper gives a brief overview of the new suggestions and trends.