ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the key developments in the batch chromatography field. The chromatographic principle was first conceived and tested by operating in a batchwise mode: that is, by injecting a small volume of the solution to be separated into a packed column through which there is a continuous flow of a mobile phase. During the 1960s and 1970s the scale-up of chromatographic processes has favored the batch mode, mainly due to the simplicity of operation and relative ease in scale-up. Production-scale high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has become available, giving over 20 times the capacity of previously employed HPLC systems. Large-scale batch chromatography is used increasingly in the biotechnology field, operating principally in the affinity mode. Small-scale batch chromatography is used routinely as a powerful analytical tool and in the appropriate form has found its way into industry for the quality control of raw materials, intermediates, and products and for process control purposes.
