Optimization of Chiral Separation of Nadolol by Simulated Moving Bed Technology

Simulated Moving Bed (SMB) technology has gained increasing attention as one of the most powerful techniques for chromatographic separations due to its cost-effectiveness and efficiency. Application of SMB technology is especially important in the pharmaceutical industry for production of enantiopure drugs, as required under strict FDA regulations, to avoid possible adverse effects of racemic drugs. In this study, the performance of the SMB process in separation of racemic nadolol on a perphenyl carbamoylated beta cyclodextrin (β-CD) stationary phase was investigated. The equilibrium dispersive model coupled with bi-Langmuir adsorption isotherm and lumped kinetic approximation, constitute the mathematical model used to simulate the dynamic behavior of SMB. Multi-objective optimization was carried out using a robust state-of-the-art optimization technique, non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA). Two optimization problems were solved to simultaneously maximize productivity and purity of the product and minimize consumption of desorbent. The generated Pareto optimal solutions showed that selection of operating conditions can significantly affects the performance of SMB to meet the desired objectives