A chromatographic cassette includes a cassette including a chamber, chromatographic media disposed within the cassette chamber, a distribution network fluidly coupled to the chromatographic media and an inlet port and an outlet port coupled to the distribution network. A hyper-productive chromatography technique includes providing a scalable and stackable chromatographic cassette, loading a sample to be processed, operating the scalable chromatographic cassette having an adsorptive chromatographic bed having a volume greater than 0.5 liter by establishing a flow at a linear velocity greater than 500 cm/hr with a residence time of the loading step of less than one minute.

The invention relates to a system and method for the stable storage of sensitive biological or chemical target substance, in a bound form on certain capture media. The method comprised providing a sample containing the target substance in a suitable buffer; combining the sample with a capture media to effect reversible binding of the target substance to the capture media; and storing the capture media with the target substance at between about −20 and 20° C.; and recovering the target substance from the capture media. The target substance recovered maintains the desired activity. Also provides are methods for reducing aggregates in the sensitive biological or chemical target substance.

Chromatography apparatus and methods are described, especially for expanded bed adsorption. A column tube has a process fluid input device at the bottom and a movable piston in the top. The piston is enclosed in the column by a cover plate. The piston body has an inflatable seal, and is connected by a frame to a contact ring which carries another inflatable member to contact the tube wall. Process fluid leaves the operating volume through an opening of the piston and flexible hose, through the enclosed space and out through the cover plate. The space above the piston can be pressurised to control piston movement. The contact ring maintains piston alignment. The inflatable seals are used to fix the piston in position, allow it to slide or allow washing. The piston outlet may include a vortex-inhibitor. Bed and piston levels may be monitored by ultrasound sensors.

A functionalized fine fiber is provided. In an embodiment, the functionalized fine fiber is usable in chromatography. The functionalized fine fiber includes a matrix of fine fiber. The fine fibers preferably have an average diameter of less than 2 micron, and each fine fiber preferably has a length of at least 1 millimeter. The fine fibers carry and immobilize functional molecules.

A medical separation device, its production, and its use are provided, wherein the device has a hollow cylindrical housing sealed at its top and bottom sides, wherein the device has an outer wall, a fluid inlet, and a fluid outlet, and wherein the device has a filling connection for a separation medium arranged tangentially to, and inside of, the cylindrical housing outer wall for filling the device with a separation medium.

Superficially porous particles are provided. Aspects of the superficially porous particles include a non-porous inner core and a porous outer shell that includes inner and outer porous regions. The inner porous region can include ordered cylindrical pores substantially perpendicular to the non-porous inner core. The outer porous region can include conical pores which extend to the surface of the particles and which are in fluid communication with the cylindrical pores of the inner porous region. Also provided are methods of making the subject superficially porous particles. Aspects of the methods include subjecting substantially solid inorganic oxide particles to agitation in an aqueous solution in the presence of a first cationic surfactant and a second anionic surfactant, which together form micelles, to pseudomorphically transform the particles.

A column packing apparatus includes a tubular structure, a packing material supplier disposed on one end of the tubular structure for permitting a packing material slurry formed by a packing material dispersed in a solvent to be packed into the tubular structure, and a packing controller disposed on the other end of the tubular structure for determining the flow rate and pressure of the packing material slurry formed by the packing material being packed so that they can be maintained at predetermined flow rate and pressure level. A column packing method includes the steps of providing a packing controller disposed on the other end of the tubular structure, and permitting the packing controller to variably adjust the flow rate and pressure of the packing material slurry so that they can be maintained at the predetermined flow rate and pressure level.

A test strip for determining the concentration of a component in a liquid composition is disclosed. The test strip comprises a carrier sheet coated with a layer of an adsorbent, and a chemical dye deposited on the test strip near but spaced apart from a bottom edge of the test strip. In some embodiments, the test strip is a thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plate, and the retention factor of the chemical dye varies according to the concentration of the component in the liquid composition. A user can determine the concentration of the component based on the migration distance of the chemical dye on the test strip in a chromatography process. The test strip can be used to perform a fast and visual test to determine the ethanol content in a fuel sample.

A method for producing microparticles and/or nanoparticles based on zero-valent metals directly inside a filtering media and/or for creating covering layers based on the zero-valent metals for covering. The filleting media includes the steps of introducing at least one solution containing metal salts in the filtering medium, introducing at least one solution containing inorganic reducing agents into the filtering medium. The steps of introducing the at least one solution containing metal salts and the at least one solution containing inorganic reducing agents inside the filtering medium is carried out in a way separated in time and/or in space to realize, in the filtering medium, a mixture of metal ions with the inorganic reducing agents as well as a chemical reduction of the zero-valent metals to form the microparticles and/or the nanoparticles and/or coverings based on the zero-valent metals inside of the filtering medium.

An apparatus for collecting mineral particles in a slurry or the tailings is disclosed, including a collection area or tank having one or more collection surfaces configured to contact with a mixture having water and valuable material, the valuable material having a plurality of mineral particles of interest; and a synthetic material provided at least on the one or more collection surfaces, the synthetic material having plurality of molecules with a siloxane functional group configured to attract the mineral particles of interest to the collection surfaces. The one or more collection surfaces includes a conveyor belt that is driven through the collection area or tank, through a release area or tank, back through the collection area or tank. The mixture includes a pulp slurry having ground ore with mineral particles of interest forming part thereof, including mineral particles of interest of about 500 microns or larger.