Challenge HF® Hollow Fiber Cartridges

Harvest, Clarification, Separation and Purification, Concentration, Diafiltration, Buffer Exchange, Microfiltration Trials.

Antibody, Vaccines, Gene Therapeutics, Blood Products, Diagnostic Reagents (IVD), Antibiotics, Biochemicals, Natural Products (TCM), Exosomes, Synthetic Biology, Stem Cells

● Cell/Microorganism Retention and Perfusion Culture

● High-Density Suspension Culture of Mammalian Cells

● Clarification (Replacing Centrifugation and Depth Filtration)

● Viral Vector Purification

● Concentration and Buffer Exchange of Viral Vectors

● Protein/Antibody Concentration and Diafiltration

● Buffer Exchange

● Separation and Purification of Enzymes and Nucleic Acids

● Desalting, Purification, and Concentration of Various Macromolecular Biologics

The Modified Polyethersulfone (mPES) hollow fiber membranes provided by Challenge IM achieve comprehensive performance enhancements through proprietary modification technology: faster hydrophilicity, higher flux, extremely low non-specific protein adsorption, excellent mechanical strength and chemical stability, and very low leachables levels, providing assurance for your product safety and compliance.

2. MWCO (Pore Size or MWCO)
Classified into two main categories based on pore size: Ultrafiltration membranes standardized by Molecular Weight Cut-Off (MWCO, 1-750KD), and Microfiltration membranes standardized by pore size (0.1-1μm).

Permeation: The pore size or MWCO should be at least 5-10 times larger than the target molecule.

Retention: The pore size or MWCO should be 1/3 to 1/5 of the target molecule's molecular weight.

Challenge IM offers hollow fiber cartridges with standard fiber inner diameters of 0.5mm and 1.0mm. Reducing the fiber ID increases the membrane packing density per unit filter, thereby increasing membrane surface area and throughput, but it may increase shear effects during fluid circulation.

1.0mm filters are mostly used for processing materials with high cell density, high solid content, or high viscosity.

0.5mm filters can be used for most application scenarios to improve mass transfer efficiency.

The effective length of the fibers inside the hollow fiber cartridges determine the flow path length, which is related to parameters such as pressure drop across the filter (influencing the filtration driving force).

The effective length must remain consistent for direct scale-up. Changing the length will significantly alter pressure drop and internal flow fields, preventing linear scale-up. Generally, when processing highly fouling or high-viscosity fluids, it is recommended to choose filters with a shorter effective length.

The circulation flow rate of hollow fiber cartridges need to be set by considering the shear tolerance of the process fluid. It is typically 2000-10000 s⁻¹, which is far less than the shear force generated by turbulence on the screen surface of membrane cassettes.

For general fluids: recommended control at 4000-6000 s⁻¹. Shear-sensitive fluids: (e.g., Lentivirus, large proteins expressed by animal cells, LNPs, etc.) Recommended to reduce to approximately 2000 s⁻¹. Shear-tolerant fluids: (e.g., small proteins expressed by bacteria) Can be increased to 8000-10000 s⁻¹.