BioSeparations

Biologically-produced materials present a more complex matrix of compounds than synthetically-produced compounds. Biological materials are also typically produced at lower concentrations and retain their biological activity within a narrow range of process conditions. This makes the separation and purification of biological materials more difficult than synthetic compounds. As much as 80% of the cost of biologically-produced materials is the cost of the bioseparation scheme. In this text book we describe the principles for the common processes used in bioseparations and the physicochemical properties of biomolecules that can be exploited to attain the separation and purification. The first half of the book describes the physiochemical properties of biomolecules and how to calculation them (solubility, ionization, size and mass). The remainder of the book describes models and mechanisms of individual separation processes (precipitation and crystallization, extraction and leaching, filtration, chromatography, and electrophoresis). It also describes how specific processes may be scaled from lab to plant or converted from batch to continuous processes.