Preparative Electrophoretic Procedures 

In general, analytical separation techniques can be developed into preparative processes by two means; firstly by redesigning the apparatus to tolerate significantly increased loads and secondly, (and alternatively) by changing the analytical procedure that is essentially a ‘batch’ process into a continuous process. A continuous process is one where the sample is continuously fed into the separation system and the separated constituents continuously removed and collected. Both methods have been employed in electrophoretic separations to achieve preparative scale separations.

It should be pointed out that the term  ‘preparative’ is somewhat ambiguous and can involve separations carrying sample masses ranging from of a few micrograms to many grams. As before and in general, preparative is a term given to separations that involve sample masses of at least 100 time the sample mass used for analysis. Preparative separations also usually involve the collection of the separated components for further examinations by such techniques, as spectroscopy, biological testing or organoleptic assessment.