Periodic counter-current chromatography

Today, the process is mainly employed for the purification of antibodies in the biopharmaceutical industry[1] as well as in research and development.

[3] The following paragraph will explain a two-column version of PCC, but other protocols with more columns rely on the same principles (see below).

This mode offers additional assurance that the main process is not influenced by washing and cleaning protocols, albeit in practice this is rarely required.

Such changes result in an altered maximum column capacity, relative to the amount of loaded feed material.

Once the column is fully saturated with impurities and only additional product is being held back, the difference between the signals reaches a constant value.

In practice, the requirement for two synced signals and the exposure of one detector to unpurified feed material, makes the DetaUV approach less reliable than AutomAb.

As of 2017, GE Healthcare holds patents around three-column periodic counter-current chromatography: this technology is used in their Äkta PCC instrument.

[citation needed] Likewise, ChromaCon holds patents for an optimized two-column version (CaptureSMB).

[citation needed] CaptureSMB is used in ChromaCon's Contichrom CUBE and under license in YMC's Ecoprime Twin systems.

Additional manufacturers of systems capable of periodic counter-current chromatography include Novasep and Pall.