GENERAL OVERVIEW PRESENTATION :

TANGENTIAL FLOW FILTRATION

COMMON TYPES OF FILTRATION
Normal Flow Filtration (NFF) Tangential Flow Filtration (TFF)
• Cartridge or “Dead‐ended” Filtration • Cross‐flow Filtration
• Flow is perpendicular to the filter • Flow is tangential to the filter surface
media • A small percentage of the fluid flows
• All fluid passes through the media through the filter media
• Particles are retained in/on filter
• Retained particles are swept away from
filter surface

Perpendicular Flow Parallel Flow

Retentate

Permeate Permeate
Flow Flow
TFF PROCESS APPLICATIONS
Used as a step in a multi‐step manufacturing process
Objective is to Process Feed Fluid from Initial Conditions to Final Specifications

TFF Recovered
Upstream TFF Downstream
Process Feed Process
Product Process

Upstream
• Cell Harvesting (concentration) | Bacterial or yeast cells (product is intra‐cellular)
• Cell Culture Clarification | Mammalian cell (product is extra‐cellular)
• Cell Culture Perfusion | Mammalian cells
Downstream
• Protein Concentration
• Buffer Exchange (Diafiltration)

Clarification | Product Passes Through Membrane, Large Particles Retained

Concentration | Product Retained, Buffer Passes Through Membrane
Diafiltration or Buffer Exchange | Product Retained, Buffer Passes Through Membrane
and New Buffer Added to Product
TFF APPLICATIONS IN BIOPHARM
Fermentation/
Cell Culture

MF Concentration MF
Cell harvest
Desalting UF
or removal UF Isolation Depyrogenation UF
Purification NF
Clarification RO
Clarification ‐ separating cells/cellular debris
CHO cell harvest and perfusion Antibiotics
CHO cell removal Blood fractions
Concentration ‐ removing water/buffer
prior to/after chromatography
Peptides
prior to fill and finish Proteins
Buffer Exchange/Desalting ‐ removing salts Vaccines
prior to/after chromatography Radiopaques
prior to fill and finish
Purification ‐ removing contaminants
removal of native proteins
PURIFYING EXTRACELLULAR PROTEINS
Serum‐Free Media
during media exchange
(Mammalian Cells only)

1 TFF 2 TFF Crude Protein

Product

Cell Perfusion Cell Separation/

(Mammalian Cells Only) Fermentation Clarification
Serum or Cell
Media
4 TFF Culture
3 TFF Precolumn
Buffer Exchange Clarification and/or
and Concentration Concentration
(Multiple Steps) (TFF and/or
cartridge filtration)

Sterile
Filtration

Ion Exchange or Affinity

Chromatography
(Multiple Steps)

Aseptic Finishing and Filling

BASIC TFF SYSTEM LAYOUT
Diafiltration Flush
Buffer Exchange

Heat Exchanger

Mixed Feed
Tank Retentate
Valve
Bulk Concentration Cb
Inlet CROSSFLOW Retentate
Pressure Pressure
Pump

Feed Flow Retentate Flow

Wall Concentration Cw
Permeate Pressure

Permeate Flow
CUF4 (4 High: 80 m2)
Cassette Ultra Filtration
Hydraulic Closure
Custom Touch Screen Controls
(Boulder, CO)
TFF SYSTEM DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Define the purpose of the TFF process:
• Separation of biomolecule product can occur by choosing a membrane that
retains the product while passing any lower molecular weight contaminants.
• Alternately, a membrane can be chosen that passes the product while retaining
the higher molecular weight components.

Choose the membrane MWCO:

• The Molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) of a membrane is defined by its ability to
retain a given percent of a molecule in solution (typically 90% retention).
• To retain a product, select a membrane with an MWCO that is 3‐6 times lower
than the molecular weight of the target protein.
• For fractionation, select a membrane that is lower than the molecular weight of
the molecule to be retained but higher than the molecular weight of the
molecule you are trying to pass.
TFF SYSTEM DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Determine the required membrane area for the application:
• Choosing an appropriate TFF system depends on the total inlet volume, required
processing time, and desired final outlet volume.
• Alternately, a membrane can be chosen that passes the product while retaining
the higher molecular weight components.

The following equation is used to calculate the required membrane area for the
process:
Example: What TFF system should one use to
A = V / (J * T) concentrate 2000 L to 200L in 2.5 hrs? Assume
average filtrate flux rate of 50 liters/m2/hr (LMH).
Where:
V = 2000 L – 200L = 1800L
A= 1800 L = 1800 = 14.4m2
A = Membrane Area (m2) 50 LMHx 2.5 hr 125
V = Volume of filtrate generated (l)
J = Filtrate flux rate [liters/m2/hr (LMH)]
T = Process Time (hrs).
TFF SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION
System Optimization:
• The maximum efficiency of a TFF separation depends upon the optimum combination
of feed flowrate (Qfeed) and the pressure across the membrane surface, also called the
Transmembrane Pressure (TMP).
Transmembrane Pressure (TMP):
• TMP is the driving force for liquid transport through the TFF membrane, calculated as
the average pressure applied to the membrane minus any filtrate pressure. (In most
cases the pressure at the filtrate port equals zero).
The following equation is used to calculate the Transmembrane Pressure (TMP) and
Water Permability:
TMP = (Pfeed + Pretentate) ‐ PPermeate Water Permeability = Permeate Flux Rate (LMH)
2 TMP
Feed Flowrate (Qfeed) Considerations:
• For non‐shear sensitive feed products the optimum value for Qfeed for TFF is normally
driven by the maximum inlet pressure of the TFF Membrane. For shear sensitive feed
products (eg: mammalian cells) the optimum value for Qfeed is the maximum flow
below the shear force at which cells can rupture.
TFF SYSTEM PROCESS MAP

[1] Kent Iverson, Iverson Consulting w/Solution Pharmaceutical Advisors, “Troubleshooting Tangential Flow Filtration”, CEP Magazine,
June 2003.
MEMBRANE TYPE BY CUTOFF

MF Microfiltration for substances whose cutoff diameter is more than 0.1 um. Pre‐filter of UF/NF/RO
UF Ultrafiltration for soluble substances whose molecular weight cutoff ranges between 1K and 500K.
NF Nanofiltration for soluble substances whose molecular weight cutoff 80 – 1K and diameter ~1 nm.
RO Reverse Osmosis for water and other small molecules whose cutoff diameter is more than 0.5 nm.
THE TFF PROCESS SEQUENCE
PRE‐USE POST‐USE
PROCESSING
CONDITIONING CONDITIONING

1. Installation 7. Optimization 11. Buffer Flush

2. Flushing 8 and 9. 5. Integrity Test

Concentration
and/or
3. Sanitization Diafiltration
12. Clean In Place
(CIP)

2. Flushing 10. Product Recovery

2. Flushing

4. Normalized Water
Permeation (NWP) 4. Normalized Water
Permeation (NWP)

5. Integrity Test
13. Storage

6. Buffer
Conditioning
MAXIMIZING PRODUCT RECOVERY
Not all the fluid in the system is recoverable by draining or blow‐down of the
system

Minimizing Unrecoverable Volume:

• Varies with filter and installed area
• May be as much as 10‐20% of minimum working volume
• Without a buffer flush, could lead to 10‐20% loss if product is concentrated to
the minimum working volume, depending upon system design

Maximizing Yield by Over‐Concentrating

• If possible, "over‐concentrate" the product past the desired final concentration.
• Then drain the system thoroughly‐‐but some product stays behind.
• Then flush with a minimum working volume of buffer to dissolve product still left
in the system.
• Drain out this buffer and add back to the concentrate, diluting the product
solution to desired final concentration.
MAXIMIZING PRODUCT RECOVERY
EXAMPLE : YIELD WITH NO FLUSH
• System minimum working volume: 150 ml
• Product: 100 mg in 10 L starting volume
• Concentrated to 300 ml final volume
• Unrecoverable volume after draining: 25 ml Yield: 92%
• Loss: 100 mg x (25 ml/300 ml) = 8.3 mg

EXAMPLE: YIELD WITH FLUSH AND CONCENTRATION

• System minimum working volume: 150 ml
• Product: 100 mg in 10 L starting volume
• Concentrated to 150 ml
Yield: 97%
• Unrecoverable volume after draining: 25 ml
• Loss: 100 mg x (25 ml/150 ml) = 17 mg Improvement: 5%
• Flush with buffer: 150 ml
• Add back: final volume still 300 ml
• New loss: 17 mg x (25 ml/150 ml) = 2.8 mg
TFF DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Things to think about when developing system specifications & P&ID’s for TFF
Systems:

Valves
Reduce the number of valves between the system tank and suction side of the pump.
Make sure there is a fail‐safe position to relieve pressure in the event of an emergency shutdown
or fault Fail open vs fail closed.
Reduce the number of valve position limit switches.
Consider block valves vs ported valves cost, delivery & footprint.

Pumps
Size for rated flow and pressure at 80% of pump capacity and less than 450 RPM
Make sure you have adequate upside for CIP if required.
Keep line size reductions to a minimum on the suction side of pump.
Gear motors will help keep motor speed up when running at reduced pump speed for end of batch
processing

Continued Next Page

TFF DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Tanks
Conical bottoms vs tulip style for reduced volume processing
Retentate side wall “T‐style” diptube return in place of tank top wall or J‐tube style
Guided wave radar vs load cell and flex hose for tank level measurement
Bottom mount mag mixers in place of top mount agitation

Instrumentation
Size instruments so that operating range is within 50% of calibration span

Design
System Footprint and Installation Constraints
Delivery Considerations/Restrictions (Truck, Air, Ocean)
Minimum Hold‐Up
Drainabilty ( ¼”/ft slopped lines.)

System Control
Manually Controlled System (Manual Valves, Drives, Etc.)?
Auto Controlled System (Alarms, Interlocks, Recipe’s)?
CUF3 (3 High: 60 m2)
Cassette Ultra Filtraton
Hydraulic Closure
Custom Touch Screen Controls
(Germany).