Microporous walled micro-capillary films (MMCFs) are porous polymer films with embedded capillaries. MMCFs have been found to be suitable low-cost chromatography substrates capable of tolerating high flowrates, which suggested they might be a solution to the growing bottleneck in the downstream purification of biopharmaceuticals. However, MMCFs have been mainly tested for binary separations of model proteins and broader capabilities of this technology remain largely unknown. The experimental work presented in this thesis focused on developing MMCFs functionalised with different ligands and their subsequent testing as chromatography media for bioseparations. MMCFs were functionalised to form weak anion (MMCF-DEAE) and weak cation-exchangers (MMCF-gCM and MMCF-CA). Emphasis was placed on low-cost functionalisation methods amenable to single-use applications. To confirm the addition of functional groups on the membranes, a comprehensive characterisation routine was implemented. This included the use of spectroscopy, electron microscopy, elemental analysis and pH titration. The binding performance of these weak ion-exchangers was further assessed by static and dynamic adsorption of model proteins. Next, the functionalised MMCFs were tested for bioseparations with binary and complex mixtures, the latter being more relevant for industrial applications. It was found that MMCFs could selectively separate similarly charged biomolecules using optimised elution strategies. Further, it was observed that MMCF-gCM could capture lysozyme from chicken egg white at a near twenty-fold purity increase compared to the feed. Similarly, this weak cation-exchanger could recover antibodies from unfiltered mammalian cell lysate. The recovered biomolecules were then injected onto MMCF-DEAE to remove nucleic acid impurities in subtractive chromatography mode. Finally, MMCFs were explored for the first time as affinity chromatography supports. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) and Protein A were covalently coupled to the substrate and tested for the capture of relevant analytes. Indeed, it was found that MMCF-BSA could bind bilirubin and MMCF-ProtA could be used to recover antibodies. Given the high cost of Protein A, a cheaper synthetic ligand was coupled onto MMCFs and observed to successfully bind antibodies. Overall, this work has furthered the applications of MMCFs for bioseparations, demonstrating their great versatility and robustness. Furthermore, it opened the field for affinity-based MMCFs, which could have numerous applications in both research and industry. Extensive characterisation methods presented here will greatly simplify future studies with these membranes. While the binding capacity of the developed ion-exchangers was typically two orders of magnitude higher than non-porous MCFs (NMCFs), the low yield achieved with MMCFs currently precludes them from commercial applications. However, optimisation of MMCFs, as outlined in the future work, could make this support more commercially viable and leverage the numerous advantages offered by its unique geometry.

Im Raman dieser Arbeit wurden binäre und ternäre Stoffgemische in einem Mikrokapillarsystem (MKS) mittels optischer Messtechnik hinsichtlich ihrer molekularen Strukturierung untersucht. Dies wurde durch die Kombination unterschiedlicher Auswertemethoden ermöglicht, welche alle gemeinsam haben, dass sie auf der Auswertung des Schwerpunktes des isolierten Raman-Spektrums der OH-Streckschwingung basieren. Für die Auswertung der binären Stoffgemische W/MeOH, W/EtOH und W/Acn konnten durch die kombinierte Auswertung von molaren-, partiellen molaren- und idealen molaren Raman Spektren, unterschiedliche Regime der molekularen Strukturierung identifiziert werden. Insbesondere für die beiden Stoffgemische W/MeOH und W/EtOH erlaubte die Berechnung partieller molarer Raman-Spektren und deren Interpretation umfassendere Rückschlüsse als es über die direkte Auswertung der Raman-Spektren möglich gewesen wäre. Durch die Berechnung der partiellen molaren Raman-Spektren konnte die Raman-Intensität der OH-Streckschwingung des Gemisches in die der einzelnen Komponenten – Wasser und MeOH/EtOH – aufgeteilt werden.:Formelzeichen mit Indizes und Abkürzungen I 1 Einleitung und Motivation 1 2 Stand der Technik und Zielsetzung der Arbeit 5 2.1 Molekular strukturierte Stoffgemische 5 2.1.1 Binäre Stoffgemische und der Einfluss von Wasserstoffbrückenbindungen 5 2.1.2 Ternäre Stoffgemische und die Ausbildung von CO2-basierten Surfactant-freien Mikroemulsionen 10 2.2 Zielsetzung der Arbeit 13 3 Anwendungsbezogene Grundlagen 14 3.1 Wasserstoffbrückenbindungen 14 3.1.1 Wasserstoffbrückenbindungen allgemein 14 3.1.2 Wasserstoffbrückenbindungen in Wasser und wasserenthaltenden Lösungen 15 3.2 CO2-basierte Surfactant-freie Mikroemulsionen 19 3.3 Analyse molekular strukturierter Stoffgemische mittels Strahlung 21 3.4 Raman-Spektroskopie 24 3.4.1 Raman-Spektroskopie allgemein 24 3.4.2 Raman-Spektroskopie zur Analyse molekular strukturierter Stoffgemische 28 3.5 Partielle molare Größen 28 4 Materialien und Methoden 31 4.1 Chemikalien 31 4.2 Mikrokapillarsystem und Peripherie 31 4.3 Versuchsdurchführung 35 5 Auswertemethodik 38 5.1 Isolierung der OH-Streckschwingung 39 5.1.1 Binäre Stoffgemische 39 5.1.2 Ternäres Stoffgemisch 41 5.2 Berechnung molarer-, partieller molarer- und idealer molarer Raman-Spektren 42 5.2.1 Molare Raman-Spektren 43 5.2.2 Partielle molare Raman-Spektren 45 5.2.3 Ideale molare Raman-Spektren 47 5.3 Schwerpunktbestimmung isolierter OH-Steckschwingungen 48 6 Ergebnisse und Diskussion 51 6.1 Binäre Stoffgemische 51 6.2 Ternäres Stoffgemisch 66 7 Zusammenfassung und Ausblick 72 8 Literaturverzeichnis 75 Anhang A83 Auflistung der untersuchten Stoffgemische und deren Zusammensetzungen A83 Zusammenfassung der Auswertemethodik der binären Stoffgemische A87

Ce travail est dédié à l'étude d'écoulement diphasique sous pression en micro et milli-capillaires pour permettre la mesure efficace de propriétés de mélanges sous pression. Dans un premier temps, un montage expérimental comprenant un micro-dispositif pour des applications allant jusqu'à des pressions de 25 MPa a été développé. Ce micro-dispositif à faible coût et transparent, permet la visualisation de l'écoulement grâce à une caméra rapide. Dans un second temps, l'étude du système diphasique du système CO2 supercritique / liquide ionique (1-Butyl-3-Methyl-Imidazolium hexafluorophosphate, [BMIm][PF6]) sous pression est présentée. L'écoulement est réalisé dans des tubes cylindriques de silice de diamètre intérieur de 536 micromètres. Parmi les différents régimes d'écoulements diphasiques, nous nous sommes intéressés aux écoulements périodiques intermittents ou « Taylor flow ». La zone de conditions opératoires couvertes est la suivante : [308 K - 318 K] x [9 MPa - 18 MPa]. Les films de la caméra rapide sont traités par analyse d'image. Le logiciel« μcap2phase » développé pour traiter les films permet d'accéder aux caractéristiques géométriques de l'écoulement (volume et aire de chaque phase, longueur du motif, longueur de la phase dispersée et vitesse de la phase dispersée). Un comportement atypique est observé avec ce binaire. En effet le transfert unidirectionel du CO2SC dans le [BMIm][PF6] induit des changements importants des propriétés physico-chimiques de la phase continue : abaissement de la viscosité (divisée par 10) et augmentation de la masse volumique (multiplié par 1,5). Ces changements impliquent une modification de la forme et de la taille des bulles au cours de l'écoulement. Une importante vitesse de glissement a été identifiée. Elle est générée par la présence d'un film épais de viscosité plus élevée au niveau des parois du capillaire. Un modèle de transfert de matière prenant en compte certaines des observations expérimentales (variations de la taille du film, de la taille des bulles, et des propriétés de la phase continue tout au long du capillaire) a été développé. Ce modèle intégrera dans le futur la tension interfaciale bulle/phase continue et le facteur de forme de la bulle. / The present work deals with the study of two-phase flow in micro-capillaries under high-pressure to enhance properties measurements. As a first step, an experimental setup consisting of a micro-device has been developed for microfluidics high-pressure applications (P < 25 MPa). The set-up combines good optical access, high-pressure resistance, homogeneous operating conditions, fast process control and detection, and the ability to generate a stable two-phase flow. In the following step, we focused our work on the hydrodynamics features of two-phase flow between supercritical carbon dioxide(SC-CO2) and ionic liquid (1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium hexafuorophosphate) ([BMIm][PF6]) .The two-phase flow system is observed with a high-speed camera. The flow is conducted in silica capillary tubing with inner diameter of 536 micrometers. Among the two-phase flow patterns, ours relates to Taylor flow. The range of operating conditions are : [308 K - 318 K] x [9 MPa - 18 MPa]. An image analysis home-made soft, « μcap2phase », has been developed in order to access to the geometric properties and to the velocities of the dispersed phase from images. The two-phase flow presents an unexpected behaviour. In fact, the unidirectional transfer of SC-CO2 in [BMIm][PF6] induces significant changes in physico-chemical properties of continous phase : viscosity decreases(divided by ten) and density increases (1.5 fold). Due to the wide variations of the continuous phase properties along the capillary, size and shape of the dispersed phase bubbles are simultaneously modified. A significant slip velocity has been indentified located between a thick liquid film (at the wall of capillary) and a Taylor flow region (at the center). A mass transfer taking into account some experimental observations (changes in film thickness, in bubble size, and in properties of the continuous phase throughout the capillary) is developed. Further, this model will integrate the interfacial tension between bubbles and continous phase.