Question

Problems and requirements of bioproduct purification

Answer 1

ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT and challenging problems facing large-scale

biotechnology today is to find and develop appropriate recovery, separation,

and purification processes. The area of large-scale bioseparations is one to

which biologists, physical biochemists, and particularly biochemical engineers have important contributions to make. Some of the most recent

advances and developments that have already started to find practical

applications are

• membrane separations, including the use of membrane bioreactors

and liquid emulsion membranes;

• continuous or semicontinuous chromatographic separations, including the use of a number of affinity methods and monoclonal antibodies;

• two-phase extraction processes such as aqueous systems and the use

of reverse micelles;

• precipitation techniques;

• electrically driven separation processes;

• methods of product secretion, cell permeation, disruption, and

selective enzymatic lysis of microbial cells for intracellular product release;

• product solubilization and renaturation of proteins or polysaccharides

present in inclusion bodies or granules.