An industry-wide filter assessment was performed with the motivation of finding a high capacity microfilter for turbid process intermediates, such as ProteinA pools. Microfiltration is a necessary step in bioprocessing as a means to control bioburden and condition loads to packed bed chromatography columns. Highly turbid process intermediates present a challenge to microfilters and depth filtration can be an efficient means to remove the visible particles, but can be time-consuming and has the potential to introduce process-related impurities. Vmax theory was employed to screen 17 flat-disk filters. Top performers were further investigated at scale with pleated devices directly scalable to production-scale using Pmax methodology. This study concluded that microfilter material of construction and prefilter cut-off size were key considerations in filter capacities. The best performing microfilters could reduce processing time and costs compared to a depth filter process. Additionally, Vmax was found to be a valuable and accurate screening tool.

Scalable filter selection for turbid process intermediates

245th National Meeting (2013)

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