Adsorption of inulinases in ion-exchange columns.

The use of adsorption columns packed with ion-exchange resins for recovering, concentrating and purifying proteins is now widespread. The present work consists of a study on the dynamic behavior of adsorption columns that uses two kinds of adsorbents: a cationic and an anionic resin. A frontal analysis of the columns was performed with experimental data obtained from Fructozyme, a mixture of inulinase enzymes. The parameters of a Langmuir type of isotherm and adsorption kinetics were obtained from experimental tests in a batch system. A numerical technique based on orthogonal collocation and a fourth-order Runge-Kutta method was coupled with a nonlinear optimization method to predict the coefficients of the rate equations, which are fundamental for scale-up purposes.