After more than ten years of development, China's inorganic ceramic membrane industry has possessed the world's leading technology, and has a certain scale in the application of biopharmaceuticals, food engineering, water treatment and other fields. This article focuses on the application of ceramic membranes in the field of biopharmaceuticals basic introduction.
1. The advantages of ceramic membranes in biomedical pharmaceutical applications
①Long service life: Tests have shown that the service life of ceramic membranes is 3 to 5 times longer than that of organic membranes in many applications, and the separation performance remains stable, which reduces production costs to a certain extent.
②Narrow pore size distribution and high separation accuracy: the filtration level of ceramic membrane can reach nanometer level, achieving high concentration. It can be separated and concentrated in a sealed environment at normal temperature to maintain product activity.
③Small amount of water washing and reduction of waste water discharge: COD (chemical oxygen demand) in waste water is significantly reduced, mycelium can be recovered at the same time as product yield is greatly improved, and no filter aid or coagulant is needed, which is very suitable Used in the field of biopharmaceuticals.
④Good chemical stability, acid resistance, alkali resistance and corrosion resistance: The ceramic membrane has strong anti-microbial ability and can withstand the erosion of various media for a long time. It is suitable for the extraction and separation of various pharmaceutical ingredients in hydrocarbons and various solvents.
⑤Good thermal stability, easy to clean: ceramic membrane is very convenient to clean and disinfect, and it is not easy to pollute the separated system, which can meet the requirements of clean and sterile production in the pharmaceutical process, and is also suitable for high temperature disinfection and Steam cleaning process.
⑥Good mechanical performance and high structural stability: The ceramic membrane is strong in material, not easy to fall off and rupture after installation, can withstand a certain pressure without deformation, does not dissolve in any solvent, and can withstand the wear of solid particles.
2. Application of ceramic membrane in biomedicine
① Filtration of biological fermentation broth
As a new type of separation technology, ceramic membrane has its unique separation advantages. It is often used in the filtration of biological fermentation broth, which can effectively remove large molecular particles such as mycelium, metabolites, and bacterial debris in the fermentation broth. Biological fermentation is the main production method in the process of biopharmaceuticals. The traditional fermentation broth processing uses flocculation precipitation, plasma precipitation, filter aids, heating and other pretreatment processes, and is matched with equipment such as plates, drums, centrifuges for filtration. The disadvantage is that only simple solid-liquid separation can be achieved, so the filtrate is turbid and the content of impurities is high, which has a great impact on the subsequent extraction and purification process; in addition, these traditional processes also have high labor intensity, low product yield, and high wastewater discharge. problem. The use of ceramic membranes, etc. greatly improve the above problems.
② Filtration of Chinese medicine extract
The composition of Chinese herbal medicine extract is more complicated, the active ingredient and the ineffective ingredient coexist, and it is also accompanied by a certain amount of toxic ingredients. Compared with the traditional water extraction and alcohol precipitation process, the use of inorganic ceramic membranes to purify the traditional Chinese medicine extract can maximize the extraction of active ingredients, with no phase change, the target substance is basically 100% retained, the process is simple and convenient, and the water consumption is less. Features.
③ Separation and extraction of enzyme substances
As an extremely important type of biocatalyst, enzymes play a very important role in pharmaceuticals. The enzymatic liquid collected by traditional centrifugation, precipitation, dialysis concentration, desalination and other separation and extraction methods is insufficient in activity and needs to be further concentrated. Using ceramic membrane technology to separate and extract enzyme substances can simplify the process. It has the characteristics of simple equipment, high efficiency processing and energy saving. It can separate and obtain high-concentration bacterial cells under the premise of maintaining enzyme activity in a short time.
④Concentrate the target products required for refinement
Ceramic membrane technology can replace other concentration modes such as vacuum evaporation and concentration. When processing crude material liquid, low molecular substances (such as salts) can be filtered and removed through the membrane together with water to prevent the target product from being deactivated and further concentrated and refined. , To a large extent, improve the efficiency of the subsequent refining process, save energy and shorten the construction period, and the product quality and yield have been significantly improved.
⑤ Heat removal source in the pharmaceutical industry
Conventional methods for removing heat sources include (1) using high-temperature sterilization to remove the heat source contained in the material (2) absorbing the heat source with activated carbon, ion exchange resin, silica gel and other adsorbents. Both have the disadvantages of high energy consumption cost, easy destruction of effective components and low efficiency by steam, and difficulty in regeneration of adsorbent. The use of ceramic membranes to remove heat sources is a new technology developed. This method can not only remove heat sources without affecting the effective components in the product, but also reduce production costs, improve product quality and yield, and increase economic benefits.
⑥Treat biological pharmaceutical wastewater
Wastewater treatment is a very important thing in any industry for environmental protection. Biopharmaceutical wastewater is difficult to solve due to its intermittent discharge, high pollution load, complex composition, and treatment problems with bacteriostatic effects. The ceramic membrane bioreactor is a new product of biological technology and membrane separation technology applied to sewage treatment. It has the characteristics of small footprint, good water quality, high sludge concentration, and easy automation. This is the biological pharmaceutical industry's Water resources treatment provides a reliable new method.
⑦ Preparation of sterile clean air for fermentation
Sterile and clean air environment is an indispensable condition in the production process in food and pharmaceutical related industries. Inorganic ceramic membranes with uniform pore size and anti-pollution properties can trap bacteria, particles and other pollutant impurities from the gas phase, thereby achieving the purpose of air sterilization and purification, and can be used to prepare sterile clean air and sterile air treatment for biological fermentation , Solve the problem of bacteria leakage, virus and heat source in the clean air prepared by other equipment.