The invention is a method for liquid, gaseous or supercritical phase chromatography which involves circulating, on a chromatograph (6) containing a stationary phase, a load (1) comprising components to be separated entrained by a carrier fluid (2), said method being characterized in that it involves: (a) obtaining, at the outlet of the chromatograph, a plurality of chromatographic fractions (3, 4) comprising at least one component of the load and the carrier fluid in a first fluid phase, (b) imposing a change of state on at least one of said chromatographic fractions (3, 4) so as to obtain at least one fraction of purified carrier fluid in a second fluid phase different from the first fluid phase by separating said carrier fluid from the component of the load, (c) imposing a change of state in a reverse direction to that of step (b) on at least one fraction of purified carrier fluid obtained in step (b) so as to obtain at least one fraction of purified carrier fluid in a third fluid phase different to the second fluid phase, and in that it involves coupling the change-of-state energies from the first fluid phase to the second fluid phase and from the second fluid phase to the third fluid phase of the same or of another fraction of purified carrier fluid, said coupling comprising a transfer of heat using a heat pump.

A whole blood treatment device includes a first conduit, a second conduit, and a rotating or reciprocating element having a channel. The first and second conduits are fluidly coupled to the rotating or reciprocating element such that the channel is fluidly continuous with the first conduit when the channel is fluidly discontinuous with the second conduit, and such that the channel is fluidly discontinuous with the first conduit when the channel is fluidly continuous with the second conduit. The first conduit is configured to receive whole blood, and the second conduit is configured to receive a regeneration fluid. The channel comprises a surface that is modified with an affinity agent at a concentration effective to allow removal of a target compound from whole blood.

The present invention provides a chromatographic separation process for recovering a polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) product from a feed mixture, which comprises: (a) purifying the feed mixture in a first chromatographic separation step using an eluent a mixture of water and a first organic solvent, to obtain an intermediate product; and (b) purifying the intermediate product in a second chromatographic separation step using as eluent a mixture of water and a second organic solvent, to obtain the PUFA product, wherein the second organic solvent is different from the first organic solvent and has a polarity index which differs from the polarity index of the first organic solvent by between 0.1 and 2.0, wherein the PUFA product is other than alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), linoleic acid, an ALA mono- di- or triglyceride, a GLA mono- di- or triglyceride, a linoleic acid mono- di- or triglyceride, an ALA C.sub.1-C.sub.4 alkyl ester, a GLA C.sub.1-C.sub.4 alkyl ester or a linoleic acid C.sub.1-C.sub.4 alkyl ester or a mixture thereof.

A device and method for the separation of a compound or compounds from impurities is described. The device comprises a tube having a mixing apparatus that mixes by convection a feedstock comprising one or more products such that the products can be bound to a resin and then contacted with various buffer solutions. At various distances along the cylindrical module, solutions (e.g., sample products to be purified, buffers, etc.) of various compositions can be sequentially added and removed. The resin particles can be retained within the module by filters or screens at the addition and exit ports. In this way, a slurry of resin particles can be continuously equilibrated, loaded with product, washed of impurities, eluted of processed product(s), stripped, re-equilibrated and recycled for re-use.

The present invention relates to a method for producing, obtaining and enriching dronabinol (9-THC) as well as natural substances from plant extracts.

The invention relates to cannabinoids and their isolation and purification and to obtaining them by means of centrifugal partition chromatography.

The object of the invention relates to an extraction cell (100) used in a centrifugal partition chromatograph, which has a cell wall (120) determining a closed extraction chamber (150), as well as an inlet (115) and an outlet (140) ensuring the fluid connection between the extraction chamber (150) and the space outside of the extraction cell (100) formed on essentially opposite parts of the cell wall (120). The extraction cell (100) according to the invention is constructed asymmetrically from the point of view of the reversibility of the direction of flow used when the centrifugal partition chromatograph is in operation.

The invention relates to cannabinoids and their isolation and purification and to obtaining them by means of centrifugal partition chromatography.

A system, module and method for continuous countercurrent spiral chromatography are disclosed. The module includes an input port for receiving an input solution, a first mixer for mixing the input solution with a recycled solution to produce a first mixed output, a stage I separator for concentrating the first mixed output to produce a stage I solid fraction, a second mixer for mixing the stage I solid fraction from the stage I separator and an optional buffer solution to produce a second mixed output, and a stage II separator for concentrating the second mixed output to produce a stage II solid fraction which exits the module. At least one separator is a spiral separator. The system includes a plurality of modules, and at least one of the plurality of modules includes a spiral separator. The method includes purifying an unpurified solution with the plurality of modules.

Continuous extraction concentration and isolation units are constructed with at least one extraction chambers containing extractable material. Without disruption of total fluid flow in the unit: an extraction chamber completely depleted of extract can be refilled with fresh extractable material or can be replaced with an extraction chamber containing fresh extractable material. Extract are continuously separated from one or more solvents in expansion chambers and removed. All solvents can be retained within the unit. One or more compressors circulate the fluids through the extraction chambers, the expansion chamber, and a condenser, where the expansion chamber and the condenser can be coupled as a heat exchanger. One or more isolators can be included for selectively removing components that are extracted from the plant material without disruption of the process and provide the removed components in concentrated or pure form.