The evaluation studied the application of the APD (automatic piston discharge) centrifuge as a means to decrease contamination resulting from the liquid handling burden  generated during the current, validated inclusion body concentration process.

Employing a series of relevant metrics, the APD tubular bowl centrifuge is first used to remove debris from the E coli lysate stream.  In preparation for downstream purification, this centrifugation step is followed by a series of washings to remove undesirable oily lipids, which results in the concentration of the inclusion bodies.  G-force and throughput (feed-rate) were considered the two variable process parameters for optimizing centrifuge performance.

Throughout the 5 (five) processing steps, centrifuge performance was evaluated using various analytical methods including weighed quantities of collected cell paste, and visual analysis of centrate samples.  The analytical data prove that the APD centrifuge achieved between 98% - 99.5% separation efficiency of the inclusion bodies (washed, twice washed, and concentrated double washed) and reduced paste moisture by more than 50% through all steps of the manufacturing process.

To the benefit of purification and manufacturing intensity, under optimum conditions, the APD centrifuge demonstrated its ability to improve separation while generating higher yields and minimizing requirements for downstream liquid handling.