Tank level monitoring
Retentate flow
Temperature
Retentate pressure
Permeate pressure
Feed pressure
Temperature
Permeate UV
Permeate flow
Permeate pH
Permeate conductivity
Retentate pH
Retentate conductivity
Retentate UV
| Measuring point | Product | Alternatives | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Key instrumentation challenges in tangential flow filtration
From an instrumentation and control perspective the membrane is not the difficult part; the challenge is maintaining the right operating window as viscosity, concentration and fouling continuously change during the batch. In practice, the majority of TFF performance issues that operators call "membrane problems" are actually pressure control, flow measurement or TMP management problems. That's where instrumentation has the largest impact on process consistency, yield, and membrane life.
- Transmembrane pressure (TMP) measurement and control: TMP is the single most important controlled variable during concentration. The challenge is that process conditions continuously change during concentration (product concentration, viscosity, membrane fouling).
- Reliable pressure measurement: Pressure measurement can be a hidden source of problems (pump pulsation, air entrainment, fouling of pressure taps). A significant number of apparent "membrane issues" can actually be traced back to poor pressure measurement.
- Crossflow flow measurement: Crossflow velocity is a key parameter for controlling concentration and limiting fouling. The challenge is that as concentration increases fluid viscosity changes, hydraulic resistance increases and actual flow may deviate from pump predictions.
- Temperature measurement: Temperature has a strong influence on product viscostiy, membrane permeability, permeate flux and product stability.
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