For microfiltration membranes, capacity dependence on pressure drop or feed rate has been observed and characterized for some time. This behavior can confound the development of microfiltration processes where small scale trials are typically performed at a single pressure or flowrate. For single-stage filter processes, this behavior may be mitigated by mimicking the anticipated feed pressure or flux of the manufacturing process. However, this becomes difficult to perform when the process requires multi-stage membrane filtration, for example a prefilter and final filter, as pressure drop and flux vary significantly with process time, volumetric throughput, and filter area ratios.Using a previously developed fouling model (Bolton et al., 2006) in which both pore blocking and adsorption are considered in describing filter performance, more accurate predictions can be made for series filtration process performance. In this study, the applicability of this combined model for both constant pressure and constant flow operations has been assessed. The predicted values for process time, filter throughputs, pressure drops, and optimal prefilter to final filter area ratios are compared to actual performance data. Further, the use of this model for multiple feed streams including cell culture media and process intermediates will be presented.

Optimization of series filtration processes: Predicting the performance of multifilter constant pressure and flowrate processes using a combined mechanism fouling model

245th National Meeting (2013)

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