Purification of Antibodies from Industrially Separated Egg Yolk

Industrially separated egg yolk was diluted and water soluble proteins separated by sedimentation. The supematant was filtered and applied to a column packed with cation exchanger within an automated liquid chromatography system. This was scaled-up from a 50 mL to a 1500 mL column. Two cation exchangers were investigated and immunoglobulin recoveries of 60–65% were obtained with 60–69% purities. Batch separation resulted in lower recovery (55%) and purity (57%). Further purification was investigated using anion exchange chromatography and salt precipitation. Results were improved with one step salt precipitation where purity was increased. The process is simple, economical and should prove useful for large production of IgY.