Cellulose Membrane Filters Used in Pharmaceuticals : Pharmaguideline

Online GMP Courses with Certificate

ENROLL

Cellulose Membrane Filters Used in Pharmaceuticals

Different types of cellulose membrane filters used in pharmaceutical industries in microbial analysis and water systems.
Membrane filters are thin polymer films those have many microscopic pores. These filters have different pores sizes and used for different purposes accordingly. Membrane filters are used in various pharmaceutical activities. Cellulose filters are most commonly used filters in microbial analysis and reverse osmosis water systems. Most of the cellulose membrane filters are hydrophobic in nature.

Cellulose membrane filters are made of different cellulose molecules. But following two types of cellulose filters are used in pharmaceutical industries.

Membrane Filters1. Cellulose Nitrate Membrane Filters:
Cellulose nitrate membrane filters (also known as nitrocellulose membrane filters) are prepared by the reaction of cellulose and nitric acid. Each glucose molecule in cellulose nitrate polymer is esterified with three nitrate groups. 

Nitrocellulose membranes are prepared by dissolving this nitrocellulose in organic solvents. This solution of cellulose nitrate in the organic solvent is spread on a smooth surface to form a thin membrane. The pore size of the membranes depends upon the evaporation rate of the solvent used to prepare the cellulose nitrate solution.

These filters are widely used in molecular biology for filtration of proteins and peptides. Careful handling of cellulose nitrate filters is required because the solutions containing organic solvents can damage the membrane filters. Solutions containing acetone can dissolve the nitrocellulose filters. These cellulose membrane filters are used in sterility test of sterile pharmaceutical products and microbial analysis of purified water and water for injection.

2. Cellulose Acetate Membrane Filters:
Cellulose acetate filters are made of a mixture of cellulose diacetate and triacetate. These cellulose membrane filters are hydrophilic in nature. Cellulose acetate filters are prepared by a solution of cellulose acetate, acetone and polyethylene glycol (PEG). The pore size of the cellulose acetate membrane depends upon the concentration of polyethylene glycol. 

Higher concentration of PEG results in larger pore size of the membrane filter. These filters have 66 to 78 % porosity. These filters can be sterilized by autoclaving for microbiological analysis. Generally, filters having pore sizes of 0.22µ and 0.45µ are used in pharmaceutical industries.

These cellulose filters are used in reverse osmosis membranes and ultrafiltration membranes. These membranes are biodegradable so it is required to have chlorine residue to prevent microbial damage.





Ankur Choudhary is India's first professional pharmaceutical blogger, author and founder of pharmaguideline.com, a widely-read pharmaceutical blog since 2008. Sign-up for the free email updates for your daily dose of pharmaceutical tips.
.moc.enilediugamrahp@ofni :liamENeed Help: Ask Question


2 comments: Post Yours! Read Comment Policy ▼

  1. Dear Sir,
    we use 0.22 microne filters for STRILE filteration while 0.3 microne for HEPA filters.
    What is the difference?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for sharing this information with us. It is really helpful for us. Keep sharing this kind of informational and knowledgeable blog. We Titan Pharmaceutical Machinery offers Suppository Machines in USA & Canada.

    ReplyDelete

Please don't spam. Comments having links would not be published.


Popular Categories

QA SOPs QC SOPs Micro SOPs HVAC Production SOPs Stores SOPs Checklists Maintenance SOPs HPLC Sterile GLP Validation Protocols Water System GDP Regulatory Maintenance Calibration Warning Letters Education B.Pharmacy
Online Courses


Follow Pharmaguideline


DOCUMENTS

PHARMACEUTICAL DOCUMENTS




Editable Pharmaceutical Documents in MS-Word Format. Ready to use SOPs, Protocols, Master Plans, Manuals and more...

View


adsbypg


Recent Posts