Pellicon® 3 Cassettes Cleaning Methodology For Reuse In Single-Pass Tangential Flow Filtration Mode

Single-pass tangential flow filtration (SPTFF) is a mode of ultrafiltration where feed material flows through TFF cassettes arranged in series at much longer residence times than in batch TFF. The feed material reaches the target concentration after just one pass through the membranes, eliminating the recirculation loop and reducing system hold-up volumes. SPTFF can be used to achieve higher final concentrations, optimize product recovery, control volume of intermediate steps, and enable intensified or continuous processing with chromatography or filtration operations.

To achieve longer residence times, the feed path length is increased and the feed flux to the modules is reduced. Pellicon® cassettes, in a traditional TFF holder, can be run in SPTFF mode simply by diverting the flow path in a serial configuration through sections of equal membrane area. This can be achieved by either serializing the feed flow through multiple holders or by installing diverter plates between each cassette in a holder to divert the feed path through the membranes.1 This setup, combined with processing at a low flowrate under pressure, results in higher retentate concentration after one pass. SPTFF operation utilizes smaller pump and piping and reduces facility footprint when compared to batch processing, making it well suited for implementation throughout various steps of the purification process.

This study demonstrates efficient cleaning strategies to enable multiple reuse of TFF cassettes for high concentration applications with SPTFF.