Continuous ultrafiltration/diafiltration using a 3D‐printed two membrane single pass module

Abstract

A 3D printed ultrafiltration/diafiltration (UF/DF) module is presented allowing the continuous, simultaneous concentration of retained (bio-)molecules and reduction or exchange of the salt buffer. Differing from the single-pass UF concepts known from the literature, DF operation does not require the application of several steps or units with intermediating dilution. In contrast, the developed module uses two membranes confining the section in which the molecules are concentrated while the sample is passing. Simultaneously to this concentration process, the two membranes allow a perpendicular in and outflow of DF buffer reducing the salt content in this section. The module showed the continuous concentration of a dissolved protein up to a factor of 4.6 while reducing the salt concentration down to 47% of the initial concentration along a flow path length of only 5 cm. Due to single-pass operation the module shows concentration polarization effects reducing the effective permeability of the applied membrane in case of higher concentration factors. However, because of its simple design and the capability to simultaneously run UF and DF processes in a single module, the development could be economically beneficial for small scale UF/DF applications.

Continuous single pass diafiltration with alternating permeate flow direction for high efficiency buffer exchange

“…Both modules were 3D printed using a PolyJet system EDEN 260 (Stratasys, Eden Prairie, USA.) using the material VeroWhite [20]. Each module was composed of two lateral parts and one middle part, all of them housing a narrow hollow-carved structure of 2 mm height allowing a tangential flow along the membranes placed between the parts.…”

Staged Diafiltration Cascades Provide Opportunities to Execute Highly Selective Separations

“…In particular, modules that allow for diafiltrate to be dosed continuously along their length enable operations in diluting, critical, and concentrating regimes that may help to mitigate the limiting effects of fouling or gelation while utilizing less diafiltrate solution. Toward this aim, additive manufacturing has already begun to enable the development of innovative modules that increase separation efficiency of membrane chromatography − and single-stage diafiltration operations. , …”

“…Purity was calculated with equations analogous to eq 27. begun to enable the development of innovative modules that increase separation efficiency of membrane chromatography 34−37 and single-stage diafiltration operations. 31,38 The solute pair analyzed here highlights the importance of selecting membranes capable of fully rejecting target solutes to maintain high recoveries and purities when implementing a stripping section configuration. This need is highlighted by the rapidly increasing recovery of solute j within the permeate stream of Figure 3B.…”

Flexible Material Formulations for 3D Printing of Porous Beds with Applications in Bioprocess Engineering

“…In the last decade we have witnessed the booming of additive manufacturing (AM, also 3D printing), including its related fabrication technologies, materials, and applications. The biotechnology and bioprocessing elds have been signi cantly in uenced by AM, with reports spanning upstream and downstream processing, including sorting and selection of cell strains (Lin et al, 2016), bioreactors (Saha et al, 2018), harvesting (Shakeel Syed et al, 2017), ltration (Tan & Franzreb, 2020), chromatography (Salmean & Dimartino, 2019), and extraction (H. Wang et al, 2017). One of the most popular AM methods employed in bioengineering is digital light processing (DLP) where a three-dimensional model is built, layer upon layer, by selectively curing a photo-sensible liquid resin.…”