Hydrolytic process for the preparation of amino acids

Claim 1

A process for the preparation of a nutritionally acceptable amino acid mixture suitable for intravenous administration which comprises the steps of: a. heating erythrocytes to denature protein contained therein, followed by separation of the insoluble denatured protein formed thereby from the soluble components; b. hydrolyzing the denatured protein from step (a) with sulfuric acid at a temperature equal to or greater than 200° F to afford a crude amino acid mixture essentially free of peptides, followed by partial neutralization with calcium hydroxide to a final pH of between 2.7 and 3.5, thereby affording a mixture of soluble amino acids and a cake comprising calcium sulfate and humin impurities; c. desludging the mixture formed in step (b) by separating the amino acid solution from the calcium sulfate-humin cake; d. decolorizing the amino acid solution obtained from step (c); e. deionizing the decolorized amino acid solution from step (d) to remove nutritionally objectionable ions by loading the amino acid solution on a column of a strong cationic exchange resin comprising a sulfonated copolymer of styrene cross-linked with approximately 8% divinyl benzene and eluting the amino acids therefrom with dilute sodium hydroxide solution; f. concentration of the amino acid solution obtained from step (e) by removal of water to afford an amino acid solution containing greater than 2% w/w of amino acids; and g. sterilization of the amino acid solution obtained from step (f) to remove microbial contamination.