Mathematical modeling of the whole expanded bed adsorption process to recover and purify chitosanases from the unclarified fermentation broth of Paenibacillus ehimensis

- Modeling of whole EBAC using a general rate (porous) model.
- Chitosanases produced by Paenibacillus ehimensis.
- The proposed model predicted adequately the whole EBA process given R2 values higher than 0.85 and χ2 as lower as 0.351 for elution step.

In this study, a general rate model was applied to the entire process of expanded bed adsorption chromatography (EBAC) for the chitosanases purification protocol from unclarified fermentation broth produced by Paenibacillus ehimensis using the anionic adsorbent Streamline® DEAE. For the experiments performed using the expanded bed, a homemade column (2.6 cm × 30.0 cm) was specially designed. The proposed model predicted the entire EBA process adequately, giving R2 values higher than 0.85 and χ2 as low as 0.351 for the elution step. Using the validated model, a 33 factorial design was used to investigate other non-tested conditions as input. It was observed that the superficial velocity during loading and washing steps, as well as the settled bed height, has a strong positive effect on the F objective function used to evaluate the production of the purified chitosanases.