Applexion - Chromatography
Chromatography is a technique for separating molecules in a liquid mixture using a stationary phase, here resin beads.
The molecules will be separated according to their difference of affinity with the resin resulting on a difference of speed through the system. Because it’s based on affinity difference, it aims to separate compounds without regenerant use (means without chemicals classically used for regeneration). This technology is commonly used at laboratory scale for analyses but also at industrial scale for food, pharma and biotech industries.
At Applexion, we mainly apply chromatography using water as an eluent. It is therefore the perfect green process of purification without the use of chemicals, nor effluents.
For lab analysis or pharma business, batch chromatography is commonly used whereas in food or biotech industries, cost and capacity constraints require systems with much higher productivity and much less eluent use, preferably water. That is why SMB (simulated moving bed), have been originally used, later on followed by SSMB (Sequential simulated moving beds) as most used reference
Therefore, chromatography became a technology of choice for large-scale purification processes of food product commodities :
The liquid mixture is injected in columns containing the resin. The selection of the resin allows to separate the molecules from the mixture according to one or combination of 4 mechanisms:
- Ion exclusion (Ion exchange): molecules are separated based on their charges.
- Affinity: molecules are separated based on difference of specific interactions with the resin and the potential to form complex with the resin (ex Hydrogen bounds).
- Acid retardation: molecules are separated based on difference of ionization and solvation, in this case, the mobile phase is using a minor amount of acid.
- Size exclusion: molecules are separated based on size difference.
These mechanisms will affect the retention time of each molecules, allowing separation. Operating conditions (concentration, temperature, pH, …) and the properties of the resin influence the separation and are critical parameters to be studied in details.
Applexion Design & Build, Run & Perform and Upgrade & Revamp services are focusing in making the best understanding and best use of these interactions, from R&D to daily operation of an industrial system.