The World’s Tallest Radial Flow Chromatography Column

Proxcys BV announced the installation of the world’s tallest High Performance-Radial Flow Chromatography (HP-RFC) column at Novozymes Biopharma UK. The 165L Stainless steel CRIO-Annular column was supplied
together with an automated packing station.

Mr Ashley Wigley, Technical Support Group Manager at Novozymes Biopharma, commented: “Increased Fermenter Yields from our Recombumin® process have put pressure on our downstream processing capacity requiring the up-scaling of our initial product capture step. We had over 15 years good working experience with Radial Flow Chromatography Columns and were impressed with the advanced design of the new generation of Proxcys CRIO-Annular columns which further simplify operation, packing and maintenance. Floor space limitations in our downstream purification suite meant we could expand upwards but not outwards and the solution was a tall thin column.

There may be larger Radial Flow Columns in terms of volume or girth but I understand that ours is the tallest Radial Flow Column yet manufactured. Radial Flow Columns give Novozymes Biopharma significant
advantages, over the more widely used Axial Flow Columns, with reduced capital cost, shorter delivery time, mechanical simplicity and smaller footprint.”

Mr Marcel Raedts, CEO and President at Proxcys BV. commented: “Since its launch in 2006, the easy packing and small footprint indeed are prominent features of Proxcys HP-RFC columns. Current frit size limitations resulted in the engineering of a 165-litre bed volume stainless steel CRIO-Annular column featuring an internal column height of 130cm at 12cm bed height, with an empty net weight of only 360kg. In autumn 2009 the 165L column was packed following the standard protocol within half an hour using the AS-Pack 225 automated packing station. The annular packing resulted in a good packing result at first attempt. Hence with a throughput of 5,000 L/hr at 360cm/hr and a footprint of only 0.75m2, this CS-1215 radial column is truly maximising throughput at minimal floor space requirement. In general Proxcys’ CRIO-Annular columns offer a robust alternative especially where space or payload present issues in DownStream Processing.”