Experimental study of the effect of buffer on chromatography and crystallization hybrid process

For a chromatography-crystallization hybrid process, a buffered mobile phase that gives the best chromatographic resolution may not necessarily give a solid-liquid equilibrium phase behavior that allows the highest per-pass recovery in the crystallizer. This paper presents a conceptual and experimental study to elucidate this possible tradeoff using ibuprofen and triethylammonium acetate as the model system. Experimental results show that a buffered system with a pH of 3.5 gives the best performance with both factors considered.