Potential of fluidized bed adsorption technology in continuous bioproduct recovery and purification

Abstract

Fluidized bed adsorption is less commonly applied for purification of proteins although offering advantages over packed bed chromatography by having increased voidage in the bed allowing particulate matter to pass through the column. Conventional downstream processing scheme can be intensified by combining clarification and primary capture into one stage with the help of fluidized or expanded bed adsorption (EBA). Adsorbents applied for fluidized bed systems require specific considerations for particle size and density affecting the quality of fluidization. Additionally, biomass-adsorbent interactions are an important factor influencing the adsorption and fluidization properties, and with the help of surface energetics they can be quantified, and various approaches have been taken to mitigate this phenomena. In the attempts of shifting bioprocessing industry into continuous manufacturing new chromatographic technologies based on packed bed technology such as simulated moving bed (SMB) and periodic counter current (PCC) chromatography have emerged. Continuous chromatography with fluidized bed technology has been established by having both process streams and resin in continuous motion and with further efforts into technology development could offer an alternative to SMB and PCC.