maxiLiLi: Pilot-Scale CPC for Kilogram-Scale Purification
maxiLiLi is LiLiChro’s mobile centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) system for pilot production, mid-volume manufacturing and kilogram-scale purification. It provides the next scale-up step when laboratory instruments can no longer deliver the required capacity, but a permanent industrial installation is not yet necessary.
The system is designed to bridge the gap between laboratory method development and industrial liquid–liquid chromatography. Processes established on miniLiLi or midiLiLi can be transferred to maxiLiLi using the same biphasic solvent system and partition principle. This allows teams to increase batch size without rebuilding the separation method from the beginning.
Unlike conventional preparative chromatography, CPC does not use a packed silica column. One liquid phase is retained within the rotating column by centrifugal force, while a second immiscible liquid phase flows through it. Compounds separate according to differences in their partition behaviour between the two phases.
The absence of a solid stationary phase reduces the risk of irreversible adsorption and eliminates the need to replace or repack silica columns. This makes maxiLiLi particularly relevant for valuable, sensitive, crude or column-fouling materials where product recovery, consumable costs and process reliability are critical.
maxiLiLi supports injected sample loads from 2.5g to 250g, solvent consumption between 3L/h and 60L/h, and flow rates from 50ml/min to 1,000ml/min. Stationary-phase retention is typically greater than 80%–90%. The system uses LiLiChro’s special Z-cell rotor design to provide the separation capacity required for larger preparative batches.
The instrument is supplied with the principal components required for production, including an injector, eluent-transfer pumps, detector and fraction-change valve. Its integrated configuration reduces the need to assemble a preparative system from separate components and supports a more straightforward transition from development to pilot operation.
The mobile design gives users additional production flexibility. maxiLiLi can be installed for a defined purification campaign, operated where needed and relocated after the project has been completed. This is valuable for pilot facilities, multipurpose production environments, contract development and manufacturing organisations, and companies managing changing purification requirements.
Typical applications include the purification of pharmaceutical intermediates, active ingredients, natural compounds, botanical extracts, cosmetic ingredients and fine chemicals. The system can also support process validation, production of material for further development, preparation of larger evaluation batches and generation of data for industrial-scale planning.
maxiLiLi occupies an important position within LiLiChro’s scalable CPC platform. miniLiLi supports initial feasibility and method development, midiLiLi enables gram-scale preparation, and maxiLiLi brings the process into pilot or mid-volume production. Successful methods can then be transferred further to prepLiLi when continuous industrial capacity is required.
For organisations moving from laboratory success toward production, maxiLiLi provides a practical way to verify process performance at a meaningful scale. It combines kilogram-scale purification capability, mobile deployment and transferable CPC methods, helping teams reduce scale-up uncertainty before committing to a full industrial installation.
