Application of compact porous disks for fast separations of biopolymers and in-process control in biotechnology.

Production and downstream processing in biotechnology requires fast and accurate control of each step in the process. Improved techniques which can be validated are required in order to meet these demands. For these purposes, chromatographic units containing compact porous disks for fast separation of biopolymers were developed and investigated with regard to their performance and speed. The problems that have, in the past, arisen from the use of wide and flat separation units, such as membranes and disks, have chiefly been those of sample distribution and large void volumes before and behind the unit. Improvements in the construction of the cartridge have led to better performance of the compact porous disks and faster separation. Using these disks, three calibration standard proteins could be separated within less than 1 min by an anion-exchange, cation-exchange, and hydrophobic interaction mode. Such units can be used for in-process control in production and downstream processing of biopolymers, as was shown in experiments involving the purification of α(1)-antitrypsin and clotting factor IX and the immobilization of enzyme glucose oxidase on an epoxy-activated compact porous disk.