Upfront Chromatography A/s

Thorkild Christian Bo slashedg-Hansen

Allan Otto Lihme

Claus Schafer Nielsen

In a vertical down-flow fluid bed reactor, suspended particles in liquid proximal to an inlet in an uppermost part of the reactor are agitated to form a downward extending turbulent zone having vigorously moving particles and a non-turbulent zone distal to the inlet having essentially stationary particles in liquid below and adjoining the turbulent zone. In a vertical up-flow fluid bed reactor, an upward extending turbulent zone is formed proximal to an inlet in a lowermost part of the reactor and the non-turbulent zone is above the turbulent zone. The downward or upward extend of the turbulent zone is determined by the degree of agitation. The particles may contain an active substance and be in the form of a conglomerate of base particles having a desired density to control floatation or sedimentation. Particles in the turbulent and non-turbulent zones may be different such as having different specific gravities. Liquid in the reactor may contain an enzyme or microorganism to be immobilized on the particles, or a protein to be purified by binding to the particles. Waste water may be treated in the reactor with particles containing an immobilized enzyme or microorganism, or with ion exchange conglomerate particles.

Distributing liquid in a fluid bed reactor into turbulent and

Liquid fluid bed chromatography using conglomerates of controlled density

Permeable substantially spherical hollow particles of 1-5000 .mu.m in size are formed having an outer shell of a mechanically rigid porous material. Pores of the shell are through-going pores that connect the inside of the particles to surroundings and allow chemical species to traverse the outer shell. To prepare the particles, impermeable hollow particles are treated with an acid or base under reflux conditions to form pores. The outer shell is formed of anhydrous forms of silicon dioxide, metal silicates, metal borosilicates, metal oxides or boric oxide. Metals and metal alloys are not used in forming the outer shell. Particles containing a polymer are formed by immersing the permeable hollow particles in a solution of components that polymerize to form the polymer, allowing the solution to partially fill the particles via the pores and polymerizing the components. The permeable particles are useful as carriers in High Performance Liquid Chromatography, gel filtration, ion exchange, affinity chromatography, immunochemical procedures, solid-phase peptide or protein synthesis, immobilization of catalysts such as enzymes and noble metals and immobilization of cells or virus particles. The particles may also be used as filtration aids, adsorbents or absorbents.

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Hellerup, Denmark

Thorkild Christian Bo slashedg-Hansen