Purification of human prothrombin from Nitschmann fraction III using DEAE membrane radial flow chromatography

A DEAE membrane radial column (4×5 cm) was used to purify human prothrombin from Nitschmann fraction III and performances of the column were investigated. Sample flow-rate of 20–30 ml/min (i.e., 24–36 bed volumes/h) and elution velocity up to 40 ml/min (i.e., 48 bed volumes/h) were obtained without compromising the separation efficiency. Its breakthrough capacity was one-third to half that of the commercial DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow media. It was concluded that the novel column is an attractive alternate to traditional axial column.