Continuous diafiltration by means of tank cycling

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12128359-B2
Application number	US-202318183609-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2023
Priority date	Nov 13, 2017
Publication date	Oct 29, 2024
Grant date	Oct 29, 2024

Abstract

Processes and systems for filtering a liquid sample are provided. Batches of a liquid sample can be routed to two or more cycling tanks (e.g., first and second cycling tanks). Upon filling a first cycling tank, a first batch of the liquid sample can be routed to a filtration assembly by a continuous diafiltration process that includes routing produced retentate back to the first cycling tank or to a collection vessel. Upon filling a second cycling tank, a second batch of the liquid sample is routed to the filtration assembly by a continuous diafiltration process that includes routing produced retentate back to the second cycling tank or to the collection vessel. The filling and continuous diafiltration of batches of the liquid sample continues to alternate between the two or more cycling tanks until a total product volume is processed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for filtering a liquid sample, comprising:
(a) providing: i) a first valve that can be configured to direct a flow of a liquid sample to either a first or second cycling tank, ii) a second valve that can be configured to direct a flow of a liquid stream from the first or second cycling tank to a continuous diafiltration (CDF) assembly comprising at least one tangential flow filter (TFF), (iii) a third valve that can be configured to direct a flow of buffer solution to the retentate of the CDF assembly returning to the first or second cycling tank;
(b) routing a first batch of a liquid sample from a sample container to a first cycling tank by configuring the first valve to direct the flow of liquid from the sample container to the first cycling tank;
(c) upon filling the first cycling tank, routing the first batch of the liquid sample from the first cycling tank to a diafiltration assembly by a continuous diafiltration process that includes configuring the second valve to route retentate produced by diafiltration of the first batch of the liquid sample back to the first cycling tank or to a concentration filtration assembly;
(d) during diafiltration of the first batch of the liquid sample, configuring the first valve to route a second batch of the liquid sample from the sample container to a second cycling tank;
(e) upon filling the second cycling tank, configuring the second valve to route the second batch of the liquid sample from the second cycling tank to the diafiltration assembly by the continuous diafiltration process that includes routing retentate produced by diafiltration of the second batch of the liquid sample back to the second cycling tank or to the concentration filtration assembly;
(f) optionally, configuring the third valve to direct a flow of buffer solution to the retentate of the CDF assembly returning to the first or second cycling tank; and
(g) continuing to alternate the filling and continuous diafiltration of batches and emptying of the liquid sample between the first and second cycling tanks until a total product volume is processed.

2. The process of claim 1 , wherein the continuous diafiltration process includes a tangential flow filtration (TFF) step.

3. The process of claim 1 , wherein the liquid sample is concentrated prior to being delivered from a sample container to the first or second cycling tanks.

4. The process of claim 3 , wherein the liquid sample is concentrated using a single-pass tangential flow filtration (SPTFF) process.

5. The process of claim 1 , further comprising alternately an alternative routing of the retentate from the first and second batches of liquid sample to a holding tank prior to delivering the retentate to the concentration filtration assembly.

6. The process of claim 1 , further comprising alternately filtering the retentate produced by continuous diafiltration of the first batch of the liquid sample and the retentate produced by continuous diafiltration of the second batch of the liquid sample through the concentration filter assembly until a total product volume is recovered.

7. The process of claim 6 , wherein filtering retentate in the concentration filtration assembly includes a single-pass tangential flow filtration (SPTFF) step.

8. The process of claim 1 , further comprising cleaning one of the first and second diafiltration tanks during a continuous diafiltration process at the other of the first and second diafiltration tanks.

9. The process of claim 1 , further comprising flushing the diafiltration assembly during the filling of the first or second diafiltration tank.

10. The process of claim 1 , wherein the continuous diafiltration process is a constant volume diafiltration process.

11. The process of claim 1 , wherein the continuous diafiltration process is an optimum volume diafiltration process.

12. The process of claim 1 , further comprising routing a third batch of the liquid sample from the sample container to a third cycling tank and alternating the filling and continuous diafiltration of batches of the liquid sample among the first, second, and third cycling tanks until a total product volume is recovered.

13. The process of claim 12 , further comprising routing the third batch of the liquid sample from the third cycling tank to a second diafiltration assembly by a continuous diafiltration process that includes routing retentate produced by continuous diafiltration of the third batch to the liquid sample back to the third cycling tank or to the concentration filtration assembly for product recovery, wherein the diafiltration assemblies are configured to operate in parallel.

Assignees

• Emd Millipore Corp

Inventors

• Goodrich Elizabeth M
• Gupta Akshat
• Lutz Herbert

Classifications

• B01D2317/04

  Elements in parallel · CPC title

• B01D2317/022

  Reject series · CPC title

• B01D2315/16

  Diafiltration · CPC title

• B01D2315/14

  Batch-systems · CPC title

• B01D2315/10

  Cross-flow filtration · CPC title