The present invention provides a chromatography medium comprising one or more electrospun polymer nanofibers which in use form a stationary phase comprising a plurality of pores through which a mobile phase can permeate and use of the same.

The present invention is directed to a method for the separation of an actinide from another metal. The method comprises the following steps: (a) establishing a non-homogeneous magnetic field across a separation column containing a paramagnetic packing material and (b) providing a fluid containing the actinide and the another metal to the separation column wherein the fluid and the paramagnetic packing material are exposed to the non-homogeneous magnetic field. The non-homogeneous magnetic field is produced by a magnet having a first pole for magnetic interaction with a second pole of the magnet wherein the first pole has a different surface area than the second pole. The non-homogeneous magnetic field has a magnetic field gradient of about 500 lines/cm.sup.2/cm or more. In addition, the present invention is also directed to a method for the separation of one heavy metal from another heavy metal.

A process is described for making acrylic acid from dextrose, which comprises fermenting dextrose; removing solids from the resulting fermentation broth; removing lactic acid from the clarified broth by extraction into an organic solvent; separating out the lactic acid-loaded organic solvent while recycling at least a portion of the remainder back to the fermentation step; reacting the lactic acid with ammonia to provide a dehydration feed comprising ammonium lactate while preferably recycling the organic solvent; carrying out a vapor phase dehydration of the ammonium lactate to produce a crude acrylic acid product; and purifying the crude acrylic acid by distillation followed by melt crystallization, chromatography or both melt crystallization and chromatography.

Provided is a zeolite-based adsorbent in the form of agglomerates, where the adsorbent having a tortuosity factor, calculated from the pore distribution determined by mercury intrusion porosimetry, of greater than 1 and less than 3. The adsorbent also has a porosity as determined by mercury intrusion porosimetry of between 25% and 35%. The adsorbent is useful in the field of separations in particular in a process for separating para-xylene from aromatic hydrocarbon isomer fractions containing 8 carbon atoms.

A method and apparatus for isolating a first substance from a mixture by chromatography, the mixture including at least a second substance which in the chromatography is subject to a greater retention than the first substance, and having a third substance which in the chromatography is subject to a lower retention than the first substance. The mixture is supplied to a chromatography apparatus having multiple interconnected chromatography columns. The apparatus is supplied with the mixture and an eluent, and the second substance is withdrawn as an extract and the first substance as a raffinate. The third substance is withdrawn as an extract. Usefully the third substance and the second substance are withdrawn jointly as an extract.

The present invention is directed to the development of continuous processing technology for the purification of biopharmaceuticals and biological products, such as monoclonal antibodies, protein therapeutics, and vaccines. Methods for continuous processing of a biological product in a feed stream toward formulation of a purified bulk product are described.

The present invention concerns a zeolitic adsorbent agglomerate comprising at least one zeolite of faujasite type comprising sodium and/or lithium and/or calcium, and/or barium and/or potassium, of porosity between 25% and 45%, and having a standard deviation ? of crystal size distribution in said agglomerate of less than 0.30 ?m. The invention also concerns the use of the zeolitic adsorbent agglomerate to separate hydrocarbon mixtures, and the process to separate hydrocarbon mixtures using said zeolitic adsorbent agglomerate.

A rotary valve comprising a stator and a rotor, wherein the stator comprises at least three primary connection ports and at least three secondary connection ports, and wherein rotor interconnection paths are arranged to in the different rotor positions interconnect the primary connection ports with the secondary connection ports such that all of at least three secondary connection ports can be connected one at the time to each of at least three primary connection port by rotating the rotor into the different rotor positions. A chromatography system comprising at least three chromatography columns and a column inlet rotary valve, a column outlet rotary valve and a feed recirculation flow path.

The present invention discloses a process for preparing high-purity raffinose from defatted wheat germ comprising the steps of percolate extraction of raffinose from defatted wheat germ, decoloration by extraction from the abstraction liquid, electrodialysis desalination, impurity removal by simulated moving bed, concentration and crystallization, with the absolute purity of raffinose as high as 98% and the recovery up to 75%. The process is not only reliable and easy to operate, but also easy to realize industrial production and control the parameters.

It is an object of the invention to provide a process for producing an organic acid, comprising: providing an incoming stream containing an organic acid and impurities; subjecting said incoming stream to a step of chromatographic separation, using a solution of mineral acid as an eluent, so as to collect an extract and a raffinate, the organic acid being recovered in the extract; and subjecting the raffinate to an electrodialysis step, so as to collect a diluate and a concentrate, the mineral acid being concentrated in the concentrate. The invention also provides an installation for implementing this process.