Depth filtration
Your trusted partner for reliable depth filtration solutions
Deep within your bioprocessing journey, depth filtration takes the stage, removing particles and impurities to uphold product purity and yield. You need reliable, proven solutions that optimize process performance and uphold product quality no matter the market you serve, whether it's pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and beyond.
Understanding the intricate demands of harvest and clarification processes across a multitude of applications, we partner closely with manufacturing, process and engineering professionals across diverse industries to find the right solutions for applications with the right specifications, with ease. Drawing from decades of expertise in this essential technique, our extensive range of depth filters, available in various formats, media, grades, and sizes, caters to your critical needs.
3M™ Zeta Plus™ Depth Filters
Explore our Zeta Plus depth filters solutions across diverse formats, media and configurations to optimize your filtration process for sustained performance.
Media Series
3M™ Zeta Plus™ Filter Media SP Series Filter have the widest nominal pore size range relative to other 3M™ Zeta Plus™ Filter Media offerings, including a greater number of grades as well as grades with larger nominal pore size than LA or ZB media.
3M™ Zeta Plus™ ZB Series Filter Media offer a higher charge level and smaller nominal pore sizes than SP or LA series and are available in single layer and dual layer grades.
3M™ Zeta Plus™ LA Series Filter Media is the cleanest Zeta Plus filter media family offered. These low aluminum filter media are designed to provide low levels of extractables.
3M™ Zeta Plus™ Activated Carbon Series Filter Media excel in decolorization and removal of specific contaminats, eliminating the need for handling bulk carbon powder.
3M™ Zeta Plus™ VR Series Filter Media provide an economical solution for viral burden reduction and are used in various bioprocess applications.
3M™ Zeta Plus™ Delipid Series Filter Media are tailored for selective removal of lipids and hydrophobic substances across a variety of bioprocess applications.
Nominal pore size guide
Scalability
The Zeta Plus encapsulated system filter capsules retain the lenticular filter design and vertical flow path that are characteristic of traditional depth filtration systems. The full range of filter capsule sizes meets your needs from benchtop to production, enabling you to use the same filtration media from the lab through pilot testing and into scale-up.
Other filtration solutions to round out your biopharmaceutical needs
Filtration and clarification are vital to many of your processes, and depth filtration plays an important role. Whether you want to streamline your development of a new process or improve the efficiency and output of an existing one, our products can solve your filtration needs across your biomanufacturing operations. The range of options we offer in media, grade and pore size, with the option to use different media grades in two-stage clarification processes, means you can find the right filtration approach to meet your needs. We know you are experts at optimizing your manufacturing workflows; let our team help you explore new opportunities for efficiency and flexibility as the industry evolves to the bioprocesses of tomorrow.
FAQs
Depth filtration utilizes the thickness, of depth of the filter media to trap insoluble suspended particles, separating them from the process fluid that passes through the media. Particles are captured by various mechanisms through the tortuous or complex path of media, including direct interception, inertia, impactation and electrostatic adsorption.
Depth filters differ from membrane filters in that they do not have a defined, or absolute, pore size. Membrane filters use mechanical sieving alone, having holes or pores in the surface of the filter that trap objects larger than the pores while letting smaller objects flow through. Depth filters, on the other hand, rely on a combination of materials and thickness to create a maze or tortuous pathway to tap the suspended particles.
Depth filters are typically composed of three components: cellulose, a filter aid and a polymer binder resin. Functional chemistry can also be applied to the material for enhanced performance.
Depending on the process, a mAb purification train will traditionally use a two-stage depth filter process. The filter(s) used in the first stage have a wider nominal pore size to remove larger cells and insoluble fragments. The fluid is then fed into a filter with narrower nominal pore size to remove finer debris. Depth filters with a certain level of positive charge may also remove some negatively charged DNA and host cell protiens.
Single-layer depth filters contain only a single layer of filtration media. 3M™ Zeta Plus™ EXT Series Filter Capsules and Cartridges have a dual-layer configuration with two distinct layes or zones of filter media. This construction increases the holding capacity of the filter, extending its service life and providing enhanced clarification for biological fluids. In some processes, using two or more single-layer depth filters in a chain may be advantageous, as each filter can serve a specific purpose that might not be possible with a dual-layer filter.
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