MaximaLabs

SMB chromatography, a moving bed that never moves

A racemic API resolved continuously by simulated moving bed — the workhorse of chiral manufacture legacy simulators have no model for.

Continuous SMB, not a batch columnTrue-moving-bed equivalent — a native unit op, not a scriptLegacy simulators have no model for this at all
Racemic API feed
Desorbent (ethanol)
SMB unit
Extract (bound enantiomer)
Raffinate

The actual dark-mode canvas: a racemic feed and a desorbent entering a simulated moving bed that resolves the enantiomers continuously into an extract and a raffinate.

A moving bed that never moves

SMB gets counter-current contacting without actually moving solids, by switching the inlet and outlet ports around a ring of fixed beds — which is equivalent to a true moving bed, and is how it is solved here. Separation exists only inside a window of zone flow ratios bounded by the two adsorption constants; outside it, one enantiomer contaminates both outlets.

mj=QjtVεV(1ε)(dimensionless zone flow ratio)m_j = \frac{Q_j t^* - V\varepsilon}{V(1-\varepsilon)} \quad \text{(dimensionless zone flow ratio)}
KA<m2,m3<KB(the triangle-theory separation window)K_A < m_2, m_3 < K_B \quad \text{(the triangle-theory separation window)}
port switchingcounter-current solid motion (the TMB equivalence)\text{port switching} \equiv \text{counter-current solid motion (the TMB equivalence)}

Unit ops shipped for this vertical

SMB chromatography

Simulated moving bed via its true-moving-bed equivalent — continuous, not a batch column.

Run preset →
Live plant integration

Stream zone flow rates and switch time from the SMB skid's OPC-UA server into this flowsheet's twin comparison — SMB purity collapses quickly once the zone flow ratios leave their solved window, so drift there is worth catching early.

See the Digital Twin platform →

Try it yourself

  • Continuous SMB, not a batch column
  • Solved as its true-moving-bed equivalent, natively
  • Separation exists only inside a real flow-ratio window

Ready to modernize your pharmaceutical simulations?

Stop fighting legacy software. Build your first flowsheet in 60 seconds.