Parker domnick hunter’s new PROPOR TFF hollow fibre tangential flow filters offer a number of benefits for microfiltration and ultrafiltration applications in the biopharmaceutical industry. The PROPOR TFF range includes single-use, reusable and autoclaveable filters, which are designed to increase productivity, maximize yield, achieve reproducible product quality and minimize filtration costs.
Each PROPOR TFF filter features a modified polyethersulphone membrane (mPES) – a technologically advanced filter membrane material. The robust, 100% integrity tested mPES membrane delivers extremely low binding characteristics to prevent fouling and maximize throughput, lifetime and yields, while the narrow porosity specifications minimize bioprocess variability so that product consistency is maintained when scaling up to manufacturing level.
Tangential flow filtration operations are used extensively throughout biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes for both microfiltration and ultrafiltration applications. PROPOR TFF filters can be used in microfiltration applications such as clarification of cells and cell lysates, and in ultrafiltration applications for the concentration of diafiltration or recombinant proteins, such as monoclonal antibodies, the company says.
Their open channel structure minimizes fouling in microfiltration applications with feed streams that contain a high level of particles. In ultrafiltration applications, the filters are said to be typically 4-6 times cheaper than the equivalent membrane area in cassette format. In either microfiltration or ultrafiltration applications, PROPOR TFF filters scale-up well by increasing the length of the filter or preferably by maintaining the fibre path length and increasing the number of fibers.
PROPOR TFF reusable hollow fiber filters are self-contained and require no hardware or installation. They are also completely caustic stable, allowing them to be repeatedly chemical cleaned, sanitized and stored throughout the duration of its long-service life.
PROPOR TFF single-use filters allow completely disposable fluid flow paths to be designed for both microfiltration and ultrafiltration cross flow filtration operations. They are pre gamma-irradiated and are specially designed to allow for storage without the need to be preserved in glycerine. This boasts an 80-fold reduction in flush volume requirements, according to the company. The single-use nature also dramatically cuts the risk of cross-contamination and no cleaning facilities are required on site. Instead the single-use filters and associated manifolds epitomize the ‘plug-and-play’ philosophy of disposable technologies which reduces set-up times and costs. Different configurations and porosities can be readily evaluated without having to maintain a large inventory of filters. This makes PROPOR TFF single-use filters particularly beneficial to contract manufacturers that produce multiple products and for which flexibility is key.
PROPOR TFF autoclaveable hollow fiber filters provide maximum cross-flow performance with minimal preparation and installation time, while allowing the flexibility of autoclave sterilization.
Like the single-use versions, autoclaveable filters are ready to use and do not require glycerine conditioned membranes. Their high performance advanced proprietary membrane chemistry makes them ideal for prolonged periods of usage, such as in perfusion applications.
