(263e) Cleaning Different Kinds of Filter Media for Applications in the Solid-Liquid-Separation

For the manufacturing or handling of food or pharmaceutical products there are special requirements on the cleanability of the equipment. For a long time there was the focus in functional process technologies [1]. With the application of aggressive cleaning and disinfection detergents sufficient sanitary conditions could have been guarantied. In the last years the growing requirements in consumer protection to more sensible products the hygienic design of components and process facilities become more and more important. However, microbiological impurity or other contamination reduces the product quality and leads to high expenses e.g. one quarter due to cross contamination in multi-purpose applications [2]. The inactivation of bacteria is necessary, but additionally the prevention of the adhesion of bacteria or bacteria residues should be avoided on the used apparatus. One of the weak spots in the cleaning procedure is the filter media. Therefore in very critical manufacturing plants one-way filters are state of the art. But for special applications the filter media has to be cleaned, purified and reused again because of financial causes. Other reasons for the use of a reusable metal filters are mechanical properties in equipment/machinery like centrifuges. This study leads to a validation of different kinds of filter-media applied in the solid-liquid-separation. The focus of this work is the development of such a filter test. The described tests enable to obtain information about impurity, whether it occurs or not, and its local resolution. Furthermore with Fluoresceine as test strain it is possible to detect a cleaning kinetic of complex filter systems with fluorescence spectrometry.

References

[1] Werner H. Stahl; Fest-Flüssig-Trennung, Band II: Industriezentrifugen ? Maschinen- und Verfahrenstechnik Verlag DrM Press, CH-Männedorf, 2004

[2] Hauser, G.: Voraussetzung erfüllt? Trends in Hygienic Design und praktische Erfahrung mit QHD. In: Pharma + Food 3/2000, S. 21 ? 23