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Title: Membrane-less microfiltration using inertial microfluidics

Abstract

Microfiltration is a ubiquitous and often crucial part of many industrial processes, including biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Yet, all existing filtration systems suffer from the issue of membrane clogging, which fundamentally limits the efficiency and reliability of the filtration process. Herein, we report the development of a membrane-less microfiltration system by massively parallelizing inertial microfluidics to achieve a macroscopic volume processing rates (~ 500 mL/min). We demonstrated the systems engineered for CHO (10–20 μm) and yeast (3–5 μm) cells filtration, which are two main cell types used for large-scale bioreactors. Our proposed system can replace existing filtration membrane and provide passive (no external force fields), continuous filtration, thus eliminating the need for membrane replacement. This platform has the desirable combinations of high throughput, low-cost, and scalability, making it compatible for a myriad of microfiltration applications and industrial purposes.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW (Australia); Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) Centre (Singapore)
  2. National Univ. of Singapore (Singapore); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  4. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
OSTI Identifier:
1557435
Grant/Contract Number:  
AR0000294
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 5; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
42 ENGINEERING

Citation Formats

Warkiani, Majid Ebrahimi, Tay, Andy Kah Ping, Guan, Guofeng, and Han, Jongyoon. Membrane-less microfiltration using inertial microfluidics. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1038/srep11018.
Warkiani, Majid Ebrahimi, Tay, Andy Kah Ping, Guan, Guofeng, & Han, Jongyoon. Membrane-less microfiltration using inertial microfluidics. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep11018
Warkiani, Majid Ebrahimi, Tay, Andy Kah Ping, Guan, Guofeng, and Han, Jongyoon. Wed . "Membrane-less microfiltration using inertial microfluidics". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep11018. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1557435.
@article{osti_1557435,
title = {Membrane-less microfiltration using inertial microfluidics},
author = {Warkiani, Majid Ebrahimi and Tay, Andy Kah Ping and Guan, Guofeng and Han, Jongyoon},
abstractNote = {Microfiltration is a ubiquitous and often crucial part of many industrial processes, including biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Yet, all existing filtration systems suffer from the issue of membrane clogging, which fundamentally limits the efficiency and reliability of the filtration process. Herein, we report the development of a membrane-less microfiltration system by massively parallelizing inertial microfluidics to achieve a macroscopic volume processing rates (~ 500 mL/min). We demonstrated the systems engineered for CHO (10–20 μm) and yeast (3–5 μm) cells filtration, which are two main cell types used for large-scale bioreactors. Our proposed system can replace existing filtration membrane and provide passive (no external force fields), continuous filtration, thus eliminating the need for membrane replacement. This platform has the desirable combinations of high throughput, low-cost, and scalability, making it compatible for a myriad of microfiltration applications and industrial purposes.},
doi = {10.1038/srep11018},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = 1,
volume = 5,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Wed Jul 08 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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Cited by: 112 works
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