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 optimise 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 filter solutions across diverse formats, media, and configurations to optimise your filtration process for sustained performance.
Media Series
3M™ Zeta Plus™ Filter Media SP Series Filters have the widest nominal pore size range compared to other 3M™ Zeta Plus™ Filter Media options, including a greater number of grades as well as grades with larger nominal pore sizes than LA or ZB media.
The 3M™ Zeta Plus™ ZB Series Filter Media offers a higher charge level and smaller nominal pore sizes compared to the SP or LA series, and is available in both single layer and dual layer grades.
3M™ Zeta Plus™ LA Series Filter Media is the cleanest Zeta Plus filter media family offered. These low aluminium filter media are designed to provide low levels of extractables.
3M™ Zeta Plus™ Activated Carbon Series Filter Media excel in decolourisation and removal of specific contaminants, eliminating the need for handling bulk carbon powder.
3M™ Zeta Plus™ VR Series Filter Media provide an economical solution for viral load 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 complement your biopharmaceutical requirements
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 optimising 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 employs the thickness, or depth, of the filter media to capture insoluble suspended particles, separating them from the process fluid that flows through the media. Particles are trapped by various mechanisms along the tortuous or complex pathway of the media, such as direct interception, inertia, impaction, 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 trap 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 proteins.
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 layers 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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