A method of recovering substantially rare earth elements (REEs) from magnets, including first dissolving a magnet to yield a solution containing Nd, Pr, and Dy, and then equilibrating a first column with Cu2+ solution to yield a first equilibrated column, introducing the solution to the first equilibrated column, and introducing a ligand solution to the first equilibrated column to establish three bands of different liquid compositions in the column, wherein the three bands comprise a Dy/Nd mixed band, a first pure Nd band, and a Nd/Pr mixed band. Next, sending the Dy/Nd mixed band to a second column containing a Cu2+ solution and introducing a ligand solution to the second column to establish a pure Dy band and a second pure Nd band in the second column, and sending the Nd/Pr mixed band to a third column containing a Cu2+ solution and introducing a ligand solution to the third column to establish a third pure Nd band and a pure Pr band in the third column. Finally, eluting the respective pure Nd bands to recover Nd, eluting the pure Dy band to recover Dy, and eluting the pure Pr band to recover Pr.

A method for separating substantially pure rare earth metals and other metals from a mixed source, including putting a plurality of rare earth metals and other metals into solution to define a solution containing a plurality of respective metal ions, in at least one chromatographic column, selectively capturing ions of each respective metal with a respective ligand to define a plurality of respective discrete bands, and respectively eluting captured ions of respective metal from each respective band of the at least one chromatographic column to yield a plurality of purified solutions, each respective purified solution having a high concentration of a respective metal. The bands may either be stationary with respect to the columns, or may move through the columns.

There is provided a method of operating a liquid chromatography arrangement, the liquid chromatography arrangement comprising: a solvent pump arranged to flow a liquid solvent over a liquid chromatography column; a restrictor arranged to restrict the liquid solvent from leaving the liquid chromatography column; and a liquid pump arranged to provide liquid flow between the liquid chromatography column and the restrictor, the method comprising: flowing the liquid solvent through the liquid chromatography column using the solvent pump; and controlling a liquid pressure within the liquid chromatography column by providing a liquid flow between the liquid chromatography column and the restrictor using the liquid pump.

The invention relates to a method for determining the presence of at least one distinct polypeptide in a biological sample comprising contacting the biological sample with a hydrolyzing agent, wherein the hydrolyzing agent is capable of hydrolyzing the distinct polypeptide in a sequence-specific manner such that at least one distinct peptide having a predetermined peptide measured accurate mass would result if the at least one distinct polypeptide were present in the biological sample, to obtain a hydrolyzed sample; bringing the hydrolyzed sample in contact with a substrate comprising at least one immobilized binding partner, wherein the at least one immobilized binding partner is capable of specifically binding the distinct peptide; removing the hydrolyzed sample from the substrate in a manner such that the distinct peptide would remain bound to the immobilized binding partner; contacting the substrate with an elution solution, wherein the distinct peptide would dissociate from the immobilized binding partner into the elution solution; subjecting a portion of the elution solution to liquid chromatography to segregate a plurality of molecules in the portion of the elution solution to obtain sorted molecules; determining the measured accurate mass of at least one sorted molecule present in the elution solution; and determining the presence of the at least one distinct polypeptide in the biological sample when a measured accurate mass of at least one molecule is substantially equal to the predetermined peptide measured accurate mass.

The invention relates to a method for separation of biopolymer molecules, particularly biopolymer molecules from the group consisting of mono- a multi-phosphorylated peptides, recombinant peptides/proteins with a polyhistidine tag (His-tag) or with another chemically similar biospecific tag, cysteine-containing peptides/proteins and nucleic acids, in which a biopolymer molecule is bound in a binding solution by a specific binding to a carrier, which contains a core with dimensions in nano- and/or submicro- and/or microscale, which is composed of oxide of at least one transition metal and/or silicon oxide, on whose surface is deposited at least one continuous or non-continuous layer and/or nanoparticles of magnetic metal oxide and/or such nanoparticles are deposited in its inner structure, and subsequently undesirable and non-specifically bound components are washed off at least once from the carrier-bound bio-molecules by a washing solution, whereupon biopolymer molecules are eluted from it by changing pH and/or by using an elution solution. The invention also relates to a carrier for application of this method.

A process for the purification of Prothrombin Complex Concentrate (PCC) from complete plasma or cryo-poor plasma, in particular undiluted cryo-poor plasma, by means of chromatography using a monolithic stationary phase, the method comprising performing an initial sample displacement chromatography step of complete plasma or cryo-poor plasma on an anion exchanger to obtain a first fraction enriched in PCC.

A process for preparing a copolymer polyol containing a reduced content of residual monomers and volatiles including the steps of: (a) providing at least one copolymer polyol containing a first initial content of residual monomers and volatiles; (b) providing at least one molecular sieve adsorbent; (c) contacting the at least one copolymer polyol with the at least one molecular sieve adsorbent for a period of time and at a temperature sufficient for the at least one molecular sieve adsorbent to adsorb at least a portion of the first initial content of residual monomers and volatiles present in the at least one copolymer polyol to reduce the first initial content of residual monomers and volatiles of the at least one copolymer polyol to form at least one copolymer polyol containing a second reduced content of residual monomers and volatiles; and (d) separating the at least one molecular sieve adsorbent containing a portion of the first initial content residual monomers and volatiles from the at least one copolymer polyol to form at least one copolymer polyol containing a second reduced content of residual monomers and volatiles.

A method of producing substantially pure rare earth elements (REEs) from a mixture, including the steps of dissolving a mixture containing REEs in a strong acid to result in a dissolved mixture of metal ions, including that of REEs, capturing metal ions of REEs in a first set of chromatographic columns comprising strong acid cation exchange resins, washing said first set of chromatographic columns with a salt solution to remove non-adsorbing metal ions, eluting metal ions of REES from said first set of chromatographic columns with a first ligand solution to result in a solution of enriched metal ions of REEs, loading said solution of enriched metal ions of REEs onto a second set of chromatographic columns, and eluting bound metal ions of REEs stepwise from said second set of chromatographic columns using a second ligand solution to afford a substantially pure REE. The second set of chromatographic columns comprises hydrous polyvalent metal oxide selected from the group consisting of TiO.sub.2, ZrO.sub.2, or SnO.sub.2. The ligand of the second ligand solution coordinates with said hydrous polyvalent metal oxide.

The invention relates to a method for determining the presence of at least one distinct polypeptide in a biological sample comprising contacting the biological sample with a hydrolyzing agent, wherein the hydrolyzing agent is capable of hydrolyzing the distinct polypeptide in a sequence-specific manner such that at least one distinct peptide having a predetermined peptide measured accurate mass would result if the at least one distinct polypeptide were present in the biological sample, to obtain a hydrolyzed sample; bringing the hydrolyzed sample in contact with a substrate comprising at least one immobilized binding partner, wherein the at least one immobilized binding partner is capable of specifically binding the distinct peptide; removing the hydrolyzed sample from the substrate in a manner such that the distinct peptide would remain bound to the immobilized binding partner; contacting the substrate with an elution solution, wherein the distinct peptide would dissociate from the immobilized binding partner into the elution solution; subjecting a portion of the elution solution to liquid chromatography to segregate a plurality of molecules in the portion of the elution solution to obtain sorted molecules; determining the measured accurate mass of at least one sorted molecule present in the elution solution; and determining the presence of the at least one distinct polypeptide in the biological sample when a measured accurate mass of at least one molecule is substantially equal to the predetermined peptide measured accurate mass.

The present invention relates to a method for designing an efficient chromatographic separation process for a multicomponent mixture, such as a mixture of rare earth elements (REE), a production mixture from a pharmaceutical manufacturing or biotechnology production process, employing the concept of constant pattern mass transfer zone length (L.sub.MTZ,CP) in a non-ideal system having significant spreading of the concentration waves. This present invention can be used for ligand-assisted displacement chromatographic (LAD) as well as conventional displacement chromatographic separation processes. Since this method uses dimensionless groups, it can be used for the design of various scales of separation. This method may also find applications in a continuous process as a multi-zone LAD process using multiple columns.