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Gritti F, Chen EY, Datta SS. Harnessing an elastic flow instability to improve the kinetic performance of chromatographic columns. J Chromatogr A 2024; 1735:465326. [PMID: 39236358 DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2024.465326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2024] [Revised: 08/28/2024] [Accepted: 08/29/2024] [Indexed: 09/07/2024]
Abstract
Despite decades of research and development, the optimal efficiency of slurry-packed HPLC columns is still hindered by inherent long-range flow heterogeneity from the wall to the central bulk region of these columns. Here, we show an example of how this issue can be addressed through the straightforward addition of a semidilute amount (500 ppm) of a large, flexible, synthetic polymer (18 MDa partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide, HPAM) to the mobile phase (1% NaCl aqueous solution, hereafter referred to as "brine") during operation of a 4.6 mm × 300 mm column packed with 10μm BEHTM 125 Å particles. Addition of the polymer imparts elasticity to the mobile phase, causing the flow in the interparticle pore space to become unstable above a threshold flow rate. We verify the development of this elastic flow instability using pressure drop measurements of the friction factor versus Reynolds number. In prior work, we showed that this flow instability is characterized by large spatiotemporal fluctuations in the pore-scale flow velocities that may promote analyte dispersion across the column. Axial dispersion measurements of the quasi non-retained tracer thiourea confirm this possibility: they reveal that operating above the onset of the instability improves column efficiency by greater than 100%. These experiments thereby suggest that elastic flow instabilities can be harnessed to mitigate the negative impact of trans-column flow heterogeneities on the efficiency of slurry-packed HPLC columns. While this approach has its own inherent limitations and constraints, our results lay the groundwork for future targeted development of polymers that can impart elasticity when dissolved in commonly used liquid chromatography mobile phases, and can thereby generate elastic flow instabilities to help improve the resolution of HPLC columns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Gritti
- Waters Corporation, Instrument/Core Research/Fundamental, 34 Maple Street, Milford, MA, 01757, USA.
| | - Emily Y Chen
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, 41 Olden Street, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA
| | - Sujit S Datta
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, 41 Olden Street, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA.
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Gritti F. Resolution limits of size exclusion chromatography columns identified from flow reversal and overcome by recycling liquid chromatography to improve the characterization of manufactured monoclonal antibodies. J Chromatogr A 2023; 1705:464219. [PMID: 37499525 DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2023.464219] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 07/15/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
The flow reversal (FR) technique consists of reversing the flow direction along a chromatographic column. It is used to reveal the origin (such as poor column packing, active sites, or slow absorption/escape kinetics) for the resolution limit of 4.6 mm × 150 mm long columns packed with 1.7 μm 200 Å Bridge-Ethylene-Hybrid (BEHTM) Particles. These columns are used to separate manufactured monoclonal antibodies (mAb, ∼ 150 kDa) from their close impurities (or IdeS fragments, ∼ 100 kDa) by size exclusion chromatography (SEC). FR unambiguously demonstrates that the resolution limit of these SEC columns is primarily due to long-range flow velocity biases covering distances of at least 500 μm across the column diameter. This confirms the existence of center-to-wall flow heterogeneities which cause undesirable tailing for the mAb peak. Because the transverse dispersion coefficient (Dt=1.1 × 10-6 cm2/s) of mAbs across the column diameter is intrinsically low, the bandspreading of the mAb in a single flow direction is in part reversible upon reversing the flow direction. For the very same residence time in the column, the column efficiency is found to increase by +85% relative to that observed under conventional elution mode. The observed peak tailing of the mAb and its sub-units is not caused by active surface sites or by slow absorption/escape from the BEH Particles. Therefore, the most critical mAb impurities (hydrolytic degradation Fab/c and IdeS [Formula: see text] fragments) can only be successfully separated and quantified with acceptable accuracy by adopting alternate pumping recycling liquid chromatography (APRLC). APRLC enables the full baseline separation of the mAb and 100 kDa mAb fragments and partial separation of Fab/c and [Formula: see text] fragments after increasing the number of cycles to ten. It was made possible to accurately measure the relative abundances of the mAb (99.0 ± 0.1%), [Formula: see text] fragment (0.88 ± 0.03%), and Fab/c immunogenic fragment (0.13 ± 0.02%) in less than 45 min for a total mAb sample load of only 5 μg. Still, further improvements are needed to increase the sensitivity of the APRLC method and to reduce the solvent consumption by adopting narrow-bore 2.1 mm i.d. SEC columns.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabrice Gritti
- Waters Corporation, Instrument/Core Research/Fundamental, Milford, MA, 01757, USA.
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Bernau CR, Knödler M, Emonts J, Jäpel RC, Buyel JF. The use of predictive models to develop chromatography-based purification processes. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:1009102. [PMID: 36312533 PMCID: PMC9605695 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.1009102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 09/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Chromatography is the workhorse of biopharmaceutical downstream processing because it can selectively enrich a target product while removing impurities from complex feed streams. This is achieved by exploiting differences in molecular properties, such as size, charge and hydrophobicity (alone or in different combinations). Accordingly, many parameters must be tested during process development in order to maximize product purity and recovery, including resin and ligand types, conductivity, pH, gradient profiles, and the sequence of separation operations. The number of possible experimental conditions quickly becomes unmanageable. Although the range of suitable conditions can be narrowed based on experience, the time and cost of the work remain high even when using high-throughput laboratory automation. In contrast, chromatography modeling using inexpensive, parallelized computer hardware can provide expert knowledge, predicting conditions that achieve high purity and efficient recovery. The prediction of suitable conditions in silico reduces the number of empirical tests required and provides in-depth process understanding, which is recommended by regulatory authorities. In this article, we discuss the benefits and specific challenges of chromatography modeling. We describe the experimental characterization of chromatography devices and settings prior to modeling, such as the determination of column porosity. We also consider the challenges that must be overcome when models are set up and calibrated, including the cross-validation and verification of data-driven and hybrid (combined data-driven and mechanistic) models. This review will therefore support researchers intending to establish a chromatography modeling workflow in their laboratory.
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Affiliation(s)
- C. R. Bernau
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Aachen, Germany
| | - M. Knödler
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Aachen, Germany
- Institute for Molecular Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - J. Emonts
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Aachen, Germany
| | - R. C. Jäpel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Aachen, Germany
- Institute for Molecular Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - J. F. Buyel
- Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Aachen, Germany
- Institute for Molecular Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Institute of Bioprocess Science and Engineering (IBSE), Vienna, Austria
- *Correspondence: J. F. Buyel,
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Zelenyánszki D, Lambert N, Gritti F, Felinger A. The effect of column packing procedure on column end efficiency and on bed heterogeneity – Experiments with flow-reversal. J Chromatogr A 2019; 1603:412-416. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2019.05.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2019] [Revised: 05/20/2019] [Accepted: 05/22/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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Desmet G, Broeckhoven K. Extra-column band broadening effects in contemporary liquid chromatography: Causes and solutions. Trends Analyt Chem 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.trac.2019.115619] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
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Zelenyánszki D, Mester A, Felinger A. Flow-Reversal Experiments with Macromolecules to Measure Column End Efficiency and Bed Heterogeneity. Chromatographia 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s10337-019-03759-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Andar AU, Deldari S, Gutierrez E, Burgenson D, Al-Adhami M, Gurramkonda C, Tolosa L, Kostov Y, Frey DD, Rao G. Low-cost customizable microscale toolkit for rapid screening and purification of therapeutic proteins. Biotechnol Bioeng 2018; 116:870-881. [PMID: 30450616 DOI: 10.1002/bit.26876] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2018] [Revised: 10/26/2018] [Accepted: 11/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Biopharmaceutical separations require tremendous amounts of optimization to achieve acceptable product purity. Typically, large volumes of reagents and biological materials are needed for testing different parameters, thus adding to the expense of biopharmaceutical process development. This study demonstrates a versatile and customizable microscale column (µCol) for biopharmaceutical separations using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) as an example application to identify key parameters. µCols have excellent precision, efficiency, and reproducibility, can accommodate any affinity, ion-exchange or size-exclusion-based resin and are compatible with any high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. µCols reduce reagent amounts, provide comparable purification performance and high-throughput, and are easy to automate compared with current conventional resin columns. We provide a detailed description of the fabrication methods, resin packing methods, and µCol validation experiments using a conventional HPLC system. Finite element modeling using COMSOL Multiphysics was used to validate the experimental performance of the µCols. In this study, µCols were used for improving the purification achieved for granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) expressed using a cell-free CHO in vitro translation (IVT) system and were compared to a conventional 1 ml IMAC column. Experimental data revealed comparable purity with a 10-fold reduction in the amount of buffer, resin, and purification time for the μCols compared with conventional columns for similar protein yields.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abhay U Andar
- Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Sevda Deldari
- Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Erick Gutierrez
- Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - David Burgenson
- Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Mustafa Al-Adhami
- Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Chandrasekhar Gurramkonda
- Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Leah Tolosa
- Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Yordan Kostov
- Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Douglas D Frey
- Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Govind Rao
- Center for Advanced Sensor Technology, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland.,Department of Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland
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Characterization of radial and axial heterogeneities of chromatographic columns by flow reversal. J Chromatogr A 2018; 1567:164-176. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2018.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2018] [Revised: 06/05/2018] [Accepted: 07/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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Gritti F. A stochastic view on column efficiency. J Chromatogr A 2018; 1540:55-67. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2018.02.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2017] [Revised: 02/01/2018] [Accepted: 02/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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Zabell AP, Foxworthy T, Eaton KN, Julian RK. Diagnostic application of the exponentially modified Gaussian model for peak quality and quantitation in high-throughput liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A 2014; 1369:92-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2014.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2014] [Revised: 10/02/2014] [Accepted: 10/05/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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Bruns S, Stoeckel D, Smarsly BM, Tallarek U. Influence of particle properties on the wall region in packed capillaries. J Chromatogr A 2012; 1268:53-63. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2012.10.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2012] [Revised: 10/10/2012] [Accepted: 10/10/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Schmidt I, Minceva M, Arlt W. Selection of stationary phase particle geometry using X-ray computed tomography and computational fluid dynamics simulations. J Chromatogr A 2012; 1225:141-9. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2011.12.072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2011] [Revised: 12/14/2011] [Accepted: 12/21/2011] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Schmidt I, Lottes F, Minceva M, Arlt W, Stenby E. Estimation of Chromatographic Columns Performances using Computer Tomography and CFD Simulations. CHEM-ING-TECH 2011. [DOI: 10.1002/cite.201000171] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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