The Future of High Resolution Purification

Abstract

This chapter presents the author’s personal view of the fundamental mechanisms underlying high resolution separations and of the areas where further effort is needed in the development of new and improved techniques. The main emphasis is on the various types of partitioning methods, involving solid, liquid, or precipitated phases, used for high resolution separation. These separation processes can be classified into highly selective or multiple stage separations and recent trends in the development of these techniques are discussed. Additional sections consider the possibilities for optimisation by process design and control and the development of high resolution separations for small molecular weight species. It is shown that there are opportunities for important contributions from genetic engineers, chemical engineers, chemists and biochemists.