A laterally-fed membrane chromatography module

Module design is of critical importance in membrane chromatography as the efficiency of separation is highly dependent on fluid flow distribution and collection within the membrane device. We discuss a novel, laterally-fed module, designed specifically for flat-sheet membrane chromatography. The performance of the novel module was compared with that of a conventional, centrally-fed, circular membrane module. Experiments were carried out with both devices using anion-exchange membrane sheets having the same surface area and thickness, and thereby the same bed volume. Tracer experiments using either a dye or a protein (lysozyme) under non-binding condition clearly indicated superior flow distribution and collection within the novel module. This could be attributed to greater uniformity in solute flow path length. The protein binding capacities of membrane sheets of identical surface area and bed volume housed in the novel and conventional modules were compared in the breakthrough and pulse modes, using bovine serum albumin (or BSA) as the model adsorbed protein. The breakthrough experiments showed that at the same experimental conditions, the 1% breakthrough binding capacity of the membrane housed in the novel module was 5.12 times higher than that housed in the conventional module. Moreover, flow-through and elution peaks obtained with the novel membrane module were significantly sharper and more symmetrical, with lower peak width.