Ultra-Low Molecular Weight Keratin Peptide Purification via Microbial Fermentation

The patent segments the peptide production process into distinct stages: microorganism culturing in keratin medium, ultrafiltration to separate by molecular weight, ion exchange chromatography for initial purification, and gel filtration for final purification. This segmentation allows each stage to be optimized independently, achieving high purity through cumulative effect rather than relying on a single expensive step.

The patent introduces ultrafiltration membranes as an intermediary separation tool between culturing and chromatography steps. This intermediary step pre-concentrates and pre-purifies the peptide mixture, reducing the burden on subsequent chromatography steps and enabling the use of smaller, more economical chromatography columns while maintaining high purity.

The patent performs preliminary ultrafiltration to separate peptides by molecular weight before chromatography. This preliminary action removes a large portion of impurities and concentrates the target peptides, so that the subsequent chromatography steps work with a pre-purified sample, significantly reducing the time and complexity required for final purification.

The patent designs a continuous multi-stage purification process where the output of one stage becomes the input of the next without interruption. Ultrafiltration continuously concentrates peptides while removing impurities, followed by continuous flow chromatography steps, maintaining productive action throughout the entire purification sequence rather than using batch processing with idle time between steps.

The patent employs microorganisms with keratinolytic activity that naturally produce keratin peptides when cultured in keratin-containing medium. This self-service approach allows the system to generate the desired peptide product through biological synthesis rather than requiring imported raw materials, achieving both high quality through natural biosynthesis and economic efficiency by using readily available keratin sources.

The patent changes the production approach from chemical synthesis or importation to biological production by microorganisms. This parameter change in the production method enables the use of locally available keratin materials while producing high-quality peptides through controlled microbial fermentation, optimizing both quality and economic efficiency.