Some Important Facts About Industrial Filtration

By Cherry Mercer


The manufacturing process, especially as far as chemical and food processing is concerned, relies on a number of processes. Industrial filtration is one such process that is typically common within the various chemical industries, as well as the pharmaceutical industry and the food and beverage industry. This process is also known by the name ultra filtration and denoted as UF. The process has been known to be effective in separating and purifying industrial products that contain macromolecules by means of this filtering procedure.

This process will primarily depend on a number of the features of the macromolecules. Essentially the molecular weight cut off (MWCO) is considered along with other important factors that can be used within this process. Basically the molecular weight cut off of the membrane used can ultimately enable the macromolecules to be removed from the liquid being purified. The process can also achieve the separation and concentration of these macromolecules in various fractional parts.

The general principle used to achieve the ultra process involves a membrane filtering procedure where hydrostatic pressure is used to force a liquid through a semi permeable membrane. As this happens, any suspended solids or other solutes that have a high molecular weight are trapped and cannot go through the membrane. In this way purification is eventually accomplished for the liquid in question.

Using this ultra filtering procedure, protein isolation and separation is possible within the laboratory. This UF relies on different membrane types to separate macromolecules that have varying molecular weight. In fact, the membrane just separates these solids within a liquid based on their molecular weight. In the same manner various types of proteins can be isolated using a process that can be carried out in the laboratories.

The process itself relies on three main membrane geometries namely hollow fiber, tubular, and spiral wound membranes. Each of these types of membranes has a particular makeup that ensures that the filtering procedure target is adjusted and various macromolecules can be effectively isolated. In this manner it is possible to have the filtering process specifically targeting a certain type of macromolecule for isolation or purification purposes.

Apart from the various membrane geometries this process is carried out in two main configurations. First is the pressure vessel setup. It relies on the trans-membrane pressure as the permeate remains under a constant pressure from the pump. Therefore, the process in such a configuration will carry on independently regardless of the membrane elements available.

Alternatively the filtering procedure can use the immersed configuration where membranes are suspended over washstands that hold the feed and these are subject to atmospheric pressure. In addition the pump creates the necessary trans-membrane pressure to create a suction effect on the permeate. There also can be columns that will exert extra pressure to ensure that filtration is accomplished effectively.

Industrial filtration is used in many different applications which are important. Some of these processes will include dialysis and other related blood purification processes. There also are other applications like water purification processes, fruit juice clarification, fractionation of proteins just to name a few. Generally, this process has benefited the chemical and food processing industries immensely and ensures that contaminants are separated and eliminated effectively from most of the products.




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