Discontinuous and continuous purification of single-chain antibody fragments using immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography

► Adsorption behavior of a supernatant from Bacillus megaterium was characterized. ► The cell culture supernatant contains valuable single-chain antibody fragments. ► Batch chromatographic purification of the antibody fragments is presented. ► Based on adsorption data a continuous process is proposed and designed. ► The performance of the discontinuous and the continuous process is compared.