PES

INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY
SPECIAL TOPICS
REPORT ON
“MICROFILTRATION”.

SUBMITTED BY:
PHOEBE RANJINI(1PI08BT059)
V SEMESTER.

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

MS.R.V.KAVITHA.

December 2010
BANGALORE .
 PESIT
DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the report entitled “Microfiltration” submitted by

Ms.Phoebe Ranjini bearing USN 1PI08BT059,is in partial fulfillment of
the curriculum of BE(Biotechnology)program of PES Institute of
Technology(Autonomous Institute under VTU).

SIGNATURE OF GUIDE: SIGNATURE OF HOD:

DATE:
PLACE:

SIGNATURE OF EXTERNAL EXAMINER:

SIGNATURE OF INTERNAL EXAMINER:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

I,would hereby express my deepest gratitude to my

guide,Ms.R.V.Kavitha for his invaluable guidance.

I am very grateful to our Principal Dr.K.N.Balasubrahmanya

Murthy,for providing me with an environment to complete my
project successfully.

I am deeply indebted to our Head of the Department

Dr.V.Krishna Murthy,who modeled us both technically and
morally for being successful in this project.

We also thank all the staff members of our college and

technicians for their help in making this project a successful
one.

Finally,I take this opportunity to extend our deepest

appreciation to our family and friends,for all that they meant to
us during the crucial times of the completion of my project.
HISTORY:
Developed by Professor Richard Adolf Zsigmondy at the
University of Gottingen, Germany, in 1935, membrane filters
were first commercially produced by Sartorius GmbH a few
years later.

Membrane filters found immediate application in the field

of microbiology and in particular in assessment of safe drinking
water. Further development of microfilters in the mid-1970s led
by the United States Food and Drug Administration requirement
for non-fibre releasing filters to be used in the production of
injectable solutions.

Micro porous membranes are used by the micro-electronics

industry as an integral part of water production. Membrane
filters are widely used in biotechnology and food and beverage
applications where sterile product is required.
INTRODUCTION.

Microfiltration is a pressure-driven process in which a

membrane is applied to separate particles from an
aqueous solution. Microfiltration is defined as the filtration of a
suspension with colloidal or other fine particles having a linear
dimension of roughly 0.02 µm to 10 µm. Typical operating
pressure for microfiltration is relatively low, lying between 0.02
MPa and 0.5 MPa.
Microfiltration is the process of filtration with a micrometer
sized filter. The filters can be in a submerged configuration or a
pressure vessel configuration. They can be hollow fibers, sheet,
tubular, spiral wound, hollow fine fiber or track etched. These
filters are porous and allow water, monovalent species (Na+, Cl-
), dissolved organic matter, small colloids and viruses through
but do not allow particles, sediment, algae or large bacteria
through .
Microfiltration systems are designed to remove suspended solids
up down to 0.1 micrometers in size, in a feed solution with up to
2-3% in concentration. And is very suitable for use in place of
traditional clarifiers or as a pre-filter to a water
recycling/recovery reverse osmosis system
 Microfiltration membranes
Most common are microfiltration membranes are
Polysulfone and Polyvinylidine Fluoride.
1)Polyvinylidine Fluoride (PVDF) Microfiltration
Membrane Elements
Applications:
Waste water Pre treatment
Oil/water separations
Beverage polishing for effective clarification bacteriostatic
assurance
Best choice for very low pressure, high flux application

2)Polysulfide fluoride
Post treatment of ultrapure water
Removal of suspended particles
PRINCIPLE.
The basic principle is physical separation.
The extent to remove dissolved solids, turbidity and
microorganisms are removed is determined by the size
of the pores in the membranes.
Substances that are larger than the pores in the
membranes are fully removed. Substances that are
smaller than the pores of the membranes are partially
removed, depending on the construction of a refuse
layer on the membrane.

Micro filtration is a pressure-dependent processes, which

remove dissolved solids and other substances from water to
a lesser extend than nano filtration and Reverse Osmosis.
 Examples of MF Applications

Permeate Concentrate(Retentate) Benefits of MF

Application
Low Juice, suspended solids, Removes
turbidity, colloidal haze particles. suspended
clear juice solids and
turbidity while
allowing the
passage of
color, sugar and
taste.

Low Wine, suspended solids, Removes

Wine turbidity, colloidal haze particles. suspended
clear, solids and
filtration flavorful turbidity while
wine allowing the
passage of
color, alcohol
and taste.

Water & Water, suspended solids, Removes

Industrial dissolved insoluble metal hydroxide suspended
solids solids. solids and
Waste insoluble metal
hydroxide solids
Water from wastewater
to allow the
Treatment permeate to be
discharged to a
local POTW.

Water & Water & suspended solids Removes

Fermentatio dissolved suspended
solids solids from the
n broth fermentation
broth leaving
clarification clarified liquid.

APPLICATIONS.
 Cold sterilization of beverages and pharmaceuticals.
 Clearing of fruit juice, wines and beer .
 Separation of bacteria from water (biological
wastewater treatment).
 Effluent treatment.
 Separation of oil/ water emulsions.
 Pre-treatment of water for nano filtration or Reverse
Osmosis Solid- liquid separation for pharmacies.

ADVANTAGES.
1.)It is generally more effective in purifying the enzyme,
giving
higher product yields while maintaining biological activity.
Perhaps most relevant to modern process economics, both
the initial investment and ongoing maintenance costs are
lower than with conventional centrifugation/dead-end
filtration systems.

2.)It allows for better control of the process, and frequently

improves the downstream ultra filtration purification step.

3.)Lower investments and operating costs higher enzyme

fields and simplification of downstream processes.

DISADVANTAGES.
1.)Microfiltration systems will not remove dissolved
 contaminants such as nitrates,flouride dissolved metals
like sodium, colors tastes and odors are also untreated.
2.)Membrane fouling is a serious phenomenon affecting
performance and service of membrane filters.

FOULING.
Two types of fouling are encountered, reversible
fouling where the flux increases and decreases with
retentate pressure, and irreversible fouling, where the
flux does not recover with a decrease in pressure.
The flux must be maintained at a sustainable level,
keeping fouling below a critical rate. The rate of
fouling is related to the flux rate, and to control fouling
there is a critical flux rate which must not be
exceeded. This is particularly important during
startup, where instantaneous fluxes can be high.
Typically the MF plant needs to operate in the trans-
membrane pressure range where flux increases
proportionally with increasing pressure. At the point
where the flux no longer increases proportionally, the
critical flux has been exceeded and fouling can be
irreversible without cleaning.

CHALLENGES.
Process and equipment design and pilot testing are
all crucial in order to evaluate and define the specific
operating conditions of a microfiltration separation
process for enzymes to assure success on a
commercial scale. The key is to design and run the
microfiltration system properly to ensure getting the
highest possible capacity to reduce capital costs,
and the highest enzyme permeability, or passage of
the enzymes through the membrane, to maximize
yield and recovery. Figure 2 shows a typical
commercial microfiltration system.
One of the biggest challenges in successfully
designing a microfiltration system for enzyme
recovery is achieving high permeability of the
enzymes through the membrane. Controlling the
boundary layer on the surface of the membrane is
critical to ensuring good enzyme permeability. This
has to be kept to an absolute minimum to make sure
the membrane itself does the separation, and not
the boundary layer. From a design standpoint,
cross-flow velocity, which helps promote turbulence
within the membrane channel and control of the
proper trans-membrane pressure, is very important
to accomplish this

SCOPE.
 1.)The Market for Mf as Reflected by The Major
Applications of The Technology: Food and Beverage
 Processing, Biopharmaceuticals Manufacture,
Potable Water Production, Wastewater Treatment,
2.)Industrial Processes, and Semiconductor Fabrication
3.)Projections of Market Activity and Value.
4.)Industry Structure, Membrane Applications and
Trends, Pricing Considerations, R&d, Government
Regulations, Company Profiles, and Competitive
Technologies
5.)The Global Market for Microfiltration as Applied
to Liquid Separations by the GLOBAL technologies.

The Membrane filtration technology has by

now evolved as the most viable option in a
very wide range of treatment requirements.
This technology ensures physical barrier for
removal of suspended and dissolved solids
from the water source. Though this removal
depends mainly on the pore size of the
membrane, application of these membranes,
either in single or in combination, provides
comprehensive solution for various
requirements.
CONCLUSION.
Effective membrane required for each and every
microfiltration system used to help in the recovery
process of industries. As with any significant process
change, it is imperative to conduct lab and pilot scale
tests with scaleable pilot plants to confirm the ability of
certain membranes to effectively retain the particles
and recover the impure product.
There are also a number of other site specific factors
that affect the economics of using microfiltration
process. Nonetheless, microfiltration has proved to one
of effective methods in filtration.
 

CONCLUSION.