Monthly Archives: September 2018

Sterlitech is pleased to partner with the Pasteur Paris research team, who is using our gold-coated polycarbonate and aluminum oxide membrane filters in their exciting research for this year’s International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition. Team Pasteur’s project, called NeuronArch, seeks to improve outcomes of surgical prothesis implants.

After surgery, microbes like S. aureus can colonize implants and form surface biofilms – these rare but severe infections are hard to treat with antibiotics, and often require removal of the implant to cure completely (1). One avenue of preventing this problem is to combat biofilm accumulation. However, the NeuronArch project aims to subvert the biofilm instead of fighting it. Their goal is to coat the implant with a genetically modified lab-grown E. coli, to serve as an interface between the synthetic prosthesis and organic tissues. This controlled biofilm would work to promote neural connections while preventing colonization by

Sterlitech Glass Filter Holders are available in a variety of sizes to accommodate most filtration applications, ranging from milliliters to liters of solution. Glass filter holders are reusable, easy to clean and sterilize, and enable precise filtration. They are recommended for use with polymeric Membrane Disc Filters to perform particulate collection and fluid filtration. Applying vacuum reduces process time compared to gravity flow.

Compared to other vacuum filter holders suited for coarse filtration (i.e. Buchner funnels), Glass Filter Holders form a tight seal with the membrane to ensure all fluid passes through its pores.

A typical holder apparatus consists of:

• glass base
• membrane support (glass frit, stainless steel, or PTFE)
• glass funnel
• rubber adaptor
• aluminum clamp

Glass frit supports are ideal for filtering acidic solutions, while stainless steel support screens offer the faster flow rate with viscous solutions. PTFE-coated supports provide the best of both worlds. Many

Have you noticed how your membrane performance is affected by the operating conditions? Depending on the type of membrane separation process, operating conditions may include hydraulic pressure, osmotic pressure, temperature and feed cross flow velocity. Operating conditions can affect both permeate flux and solute rejection. Among these parameters, permeate flux is very sensitive to the feed temperature. Permeate flux increases as the feed temperature increases. This is mainly due to the decrease of feed viscosity with an increase in the feed temperature.  More specifically permeate flux typically increases as temperature increases in a linear relationship with viscosity as described below (1):

In this equation, J is the permeate flux through the membrane,  m is the feed viscosity, J₀ is the permeate flux at a reference temperature, and μ₀ is the viscosity at the same reference temperature. J₀ and µ₀ are constants and are ordinarily defined by the membrane