Performance and Economic Analyses of Nanolayer Functionalized Nanofibers as a Novel Protein Purification Medium

Adsorptive membranes for protein recovery and purification reduce the concern of high pressure drops with elevated flow rates, and eliminate the slow intra particle diffusion associated with packed bed adsorption/chromatography. Traditionally, commercial membrane adsorbers have had less available surface area for adsorption sites compared to packed bed of resins, which has led to significantly lower adsorption capacity. However, we have overcome this limitation by utilizing electrospun nanofibers that have been functionalized with 3-dimensional nanolayers of Poly Acrylic Acid (PAA) through Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP). Here we show that this new adsorption medium displays static adsorption capacities over 50-times higher than current commercial membrane adsorption systems and over 12-times higher than packed bed resins. Additionally, the adsorption kinetics remain 10-times faster than packed bed resins and have over 15-times higher permeance. Based on batch equilibrium and kinetic uptake rate data, a theoretical model has been developed to predict the dynamic adsorption breakthrough curves for various operating conditions. Finally, an economic analysis evaluating the impact of using the nanofiber membranes within a conventional biopharmaceutical purification process was conducted with Superpro Designer®.