Micro Filtration System

Microfiltration (MF) is a pressure-driven separation process, which is widely used in concentrating, purifying or separating macromolecules, colloids and suspended particles from solution. MF membranes typically have nominal pore sizes on the order of 0.1–1.0 μm. MF processing is widely used in the food industry for applications such as wine, juice and beer clarification, for wastewater treatment, and plasma separation from blood for therapeutic and commercial uses. In biotechnology industries, MF concerns applications such as cell recycle and harvesting, separation of recombinant proteins from cell debris, and purification of process streams. MF is usually operated at relatively low TMPs (<4 bar or 0.4 MPa) in a cross-flow configuration. The feed stream flows tangentially to the membrane surface to prevent cake formation and hence fouling of the membrane. The operation of cross-flow MF is often limited by membrane fouling caused by suspended solids in the feed stream. Permeate flux decreases with time as the retained particles accumulate on and within the membrane. Accumulation of cells, cell debris or other rejected particles on the membrane surface (external fouling or cake formation) is usually reversible, while deposition and adsorption of small particles or macromolecules within the internal pore structure of the membrane (internal fouling) is often irreversible.