Displacement chromatography is a powerful preparative technique that can offer high production rates, resolving power and elevated yields and purity of a desired byproduct. Historically, it was necessary to screen displacer candidates individually in column experiments using trial and error, a very laborious task. The present invention relates to a method for screening a plurality of displacer candidates for efficacy in separating a bioproduct (for example, proteins or DNA) from one or more impurities by determining the ability of candidates to displace an adsorbed bioproduct from a stationary phase of a chromatographic system. The method may be used with chromatographic systems having different modes of interaction, including ion exchange (IEX), hydrophobic interaction (HIC), and reversed phase (RPLC). Components having low separation factors can be concentrated and purified more effectively than with traditional elution chromatography.