A Study of Methods for Downstream Processing of Proteins with Respect to New Dimensions in Future

This article reviews the techniques employed in this industry for the recovery of protein products. This review focuses on the recovery of proteins from fermented starting materials. The major subjects discussed include cell disruption and extraction, solid/liquid separations, chromatography, separations in solution, centrifugation, filtration, flocculation, and integrated methods that combine purification, concentration, such as aqueous two-phase separation systems and finishing operations. Protein tags can also facilitate these DSP steps. New developments in the area of downstream processing are, hopefully, to fulfill the promises of modern biotechnology. The traditional separation processes such as chromatography or electrophoresis can become prohibitively expensive unless the product is of high value. Hence; there is a need to develop efficient and cost-effective downstream processing methods. Reverse micellar extraction is one such potential and a promising liquid-liquid extraction technique, which has received immense attention for isolation and purification of proteins/enzymes in the recent times. Protein crystallization offers great potential in downstream processing of pharmaceutical protein active ingredients. Promising future developments include new metal affinity processes for analytical and preparative scale separations. The technology and the main economic aspects of extractive recovery of biological active proteins are reviewed briefly. It will be seen that the method has high potential and is already used industrially.