Continuous separation of protein loaded nanoparticles by simulated moving bed chromatography

For scale up and efficient production of protein loaded nanoparticles continuous separation by size exclusion chromatography in simulated moving bed (SMB) mode helps do reduce unbound protein concentration and increase yields for perfectly covered particles. Silica nanoparticles were loaded with an excess of beta casein or bovine serum albumin (BSA) and the loaded particles purified by size exclusion chromatography using Sephacryl300 as stationary phase in a four zone SMB. We determined our working points for the SMB from batch separations and the triangle theory described by Mazzotti et al. with an SMB setup of one Sephacryl300 26/70 mm column per zone with switch times of 5 min for BSA and 7 min for beta casein. In the case of BSA the Raffinate contained loaded nanoparticles of 63% purity with 98% recovery and the extract was essentially particle free (95% purity). We showed that the low purity of the Raffinate was only due to BSA multimers present in the used protein solution. In the case of beta casein where no multimers are present we achieved 89% purity and 90% recovery of loaded nanoparticles in the Raffinate and an extract free of particles (92% purity). Using a tangential flow filtration unit with 5 kDa cutoff membrane we proved that the extract can be concentrated for recycling of protein and buffer. The calculated space–time-yield for loaded nanoparticles was 0.25 g of loaded nanoparticles per hour and liter of used resin. This proves that the presented process is suitable for large scale production for industrial purposes.