Ultrafiltration

SIVA supports you in the design and fabrication of membrane ultrafiltration systems for the separation of particles and/or molecules in solution.

Principle of ultrafiltration

Ultrafiltration is a physical separation technology. Porous membranes with pore sizes between 100 and 2nm are used to separate matters such as virus and proteins in a liquid solution.

In this separation technology the solution is recirculated tangentially to the surface of the filtration media, the porous membrane. Part of the solution passes through the membrane and is clarified. The membrane filtration technology relies on the creation of a pressure difference to enable the retention of solutes larger than the pore size of the membrane while allowing the solvent to pass through the membrane. The same principle applies to microfiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, membranes of different pore sizes are used to separate different particles.

The selection of the membrane material will depend on multiple variables, which are detailed in: membrane separation processes.

This proven technology is used in numerous industries such as the Food & Beverage, Biopharma and Environment.

Ultrafiltration

The advantages of the ultrafiltration are:

  • Separation that cannot be achieved by other physical separation technologies
  • Superior separation quality and performance as a result of the continuous cleaning of the membrane surface by the solution in recirculation tangentially to it
  • A continuous separation process with the possibility of feeding a downstream process without interruptions, different from chromatography
  • A physical separation technology without phase transition, which allows the treatment of sensitive liquids without denaturation of their components, different from evaporation, distillation and liquid-liquid extraction
  • A separation technology without additives and environment-friendly, different from diatomaceous earth filtration
  • An automated process, which does not require frequent operator intervention

Application fields of ultrafiltration

Ultrafiltration has been widely developed since the ‘80s and is used in the majority of industries that require a process for solid/liquid or liquid/liquid separation.

It is used in multiple applications, in particular related to water reuse and environment (treatment of industrial effluents in combination or not with bioreactors, reuse of degreasing baths, cutting oils, water potabilization, COD/BOD reduction, etc.)

The ultrafiltration is suitable to the Food & Beverage industry, it is used in the clarification of sugar (glucose syrup), the concentration/fractionation of proteins (animal and vegetal), the concentration/purification of enzymes, yeasts, vegetal extractions, etc.

It is also used in the concentration/purification of molecules, vaccines and proteins in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.



Project initiatives

Design & manufacturing of industrial membrane filtration systems

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