ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Computer-aided process design of affinity membrane adsorbers: a case study on antibodies capturing

Peter van Beijeren, Peter Kreis, Achim Hoffmann, Martina Mutter, Sven Sommerfeld, Werner Bäcker, and Andrzej Górak

Department of Biochemical and Chemical Engineering, Technische Universität Dortmund, Emil-Figge-Str. 70, 44227 Dortmund, Germany

E-mail: peter.kreis@bci.tu-dortmund.de

Received: 19 November 2007  Revised: 18 March 2008  Accepted: 24 March 2008

Abstract: Design of affinity membrane adsorbers for the purification of biomolecules requires a consideration of loading, washing, and elution. Modelling and simulation of membrane adsorbers in literature is, however, strongly focused on the loading step. Therefore, in this work, a complete process model which takes all the different steps into account was developed. Breakthrough experiments in which human IgG was captured onto and eluted from Sartobind Protein A downscale modules were used for model validation and for estimation of the required model parameters. The experimentally observed breakthrough curves were independent of the applied flow rate and from these results linear correlations between lumped kinetic parameters and linear velocity were determined. During elution, desorption was best described by an irreversible reaction of first order in H⁺ concentration. Applicability of the developed model to computer-aided design was illustrated through a process analysis study in which the influence of the amount of loaded protein per cycle on the process yield and productivity was investigated.

Keywords: membrane chromatography - affinity separation - elution - monoclonal antibodies - protein A

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-008-0057-4

Chemical Papers 62 (5) 458–463 (2008)