Ultrafiltration is an important function in many labs. While there are many ways to conduct concentration and filtration, it is critical that you select the appropriate method for target recovery and sample volume, while still considering speed and efficiency. Sartorius has launched its Vivaflow Crossflow Cassettes with these requirements in mind. With three products specifically designed to meet different customer requirements, they provide a simple to use, plug and play system for concentrating a wide range of sample types, over volumes from 0.1 liter to 5 liters, with high reliability and consistency of results.

A key problem for laboratories needing to ultrafilter >20ml sample volumes is the cost, time and manual handling involved in setting up mounting systems and filter holders. The Vivaflow systems have been designed to remove that requirement. No service needing mounting system, awkward stirred cell vessels, or costly filter holders are required for use. Meaning users can get to their concentrated samples faster and cheaper.

Each unit comes with all required accessories including cassettes, tubing, flow restrictor, series interconnector and high pressure pump tubing. Needing only a standard laboratory bench peristaltic pump for operation. The Vivaflow crossflow design offers 10 – 50x concentration with near total recoveries, depending upon target molecule, in a single step. Devices are available in both single use and multiuse to ensure both process safety and cost demands are met. A 500 ml sealed diafiltration reservoir can be connected directly to the retentate vessel for autonomous and convenient buffer exchange.

The Vivaflow crossflow cassettes can be used in a variety of concentration applications including antibody or recombinant protein concentration/diafiltration in biopharma research, concentration of ≤5L production batches of proteins for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, concentration of viruses from HEK293 cell culture supernatants or of environmental samples, heavy metal aggregates and other general nanoparticle concentration.

Efficacy of ultrafiltration processes can be very application dependent. So available to all users, Sartorius offer one of the widest ranges of application notes revolving around ultrafiltration techniques, such as; hybridoma cell culture concentration for monoclonal antibody recovery, soluble trace metal analysis in seawater, de-salting requirements, protein separation for disease detection, nanocarriers for drug delivery, buffer exchange data and improving recoveries through device passivation.

Vivaflow Crossflow Cassette Options

Vivaflow 50

The Vivaflow 50 is an easy to use, single use, crossflow concentration unit that is economically friendly. It provides a great deal of scalability as up to six modules can be connected to process sample volumes from 100 ml up to 3 liters. Its design includes a thin-channel, flip-flow recirculation path of the modules for high crossflow velocities and transmembrane flux with minimum pump speed requirements. A single 50 cm² module typically reduces 500 ml to 15 ml in less than 50 min.

Vivaflow 50R

The Vivaflow 50R is a ready to use, reusable concentrator that offers a unique, low-binding modified regenerated cellulose membrane, Hydrosart^®, particularly well-suited for concentrating high value samples like viruses and antibodies. It is the smallest cross flow cassette available with this reusable membrane. The Vivaflow 50R can be scaled up with one additional unit to increase the flow speed for concentrating sample volumes from 100 ml to 1 liter. It also has a thin-channel, flip-flow recirculation path design and a single module with 50 cm² active membrane area typically concentrates 250 ml by a factor of 20 in less than 30 min. Two Vivaflow^® 50R modules can be used in parallel for concentration of 1 liter in approx. 45 minutes. Vivaflow^® 50R can easily be cleaned and stored for re-used several times.

Vivaflow 200

Vivaflow 200 is a reusable crossflow device available in an unparalleled choice of membranes: modified regenerated cellulose, Hydrosart® and PES. The membrane choice provides multiple Molecular Weight Cut Off (MWCO) options, a significant advantage when concentrating high value samples like viruses viral vectors and antibodies. Vivaflow 200 can be scaled up with one additional unit to increase the flow speed for concentrating initial sample volumes of up to 5 l. Again, the thin-channel, flip-flow recirculation path design provides high crossflow velocities and a single 200 cm² module typically concentrates 1 liter by a factor of 50 in less than 30 min. Two Vivaflow^® 200 modules can be used in parallel for concentration of 5 liters in under 75 minutes. Like with the Vivaflow 50R, the Vivaflow^® 200 can easily be cleaned, stored and re-used several times.

To learn more and to access an archive of application notes, please see Ultrafiltration