Development of Process Alternatives for Separation and Purification of Isoflavones

This article demonstrates the application of an integrative process development approach that combines conceptual design and bench-scale experiments to develop realistic process alternatives for the separation and purification of isoflavones from soybeans. The procedure begins with a generic process structure and the chemistry of the compounds involved. Basic data such as solid−liquid equilibrium phase behavior and chromatograms are then generated. The conceptual design calls for the recovery of the isoflavones as a mixture first using either chromatography or antisolvent crystallization. This step is followed by fractionation of this mixture into pure products, namely, daizein and genistein, using either chromatography or fractional crystallization.