Sartorius Stedim Biotech (SSB), a leading international pharma supplier, has launched the Sartoguard NF prefilter series, completing its range of Sartoguard prefilters

• Innovative nanofleece technology provides high flow rates and total throughput performance in combination with excellent clarification capabilities
• New series concludes the launch of SSB´s Sartoguard range of prefilters

These new prefilters feature a unique combination of high performance polyethersulfone (PES) membranes and highly innovative nanofleece technology. This is the first time that PES nanofleece material is being used for liquid prefiltration applications in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The newly developed nanofleece technology provides an ultrafine fleece structure based on a small nanofiber diameter of 120-150 nm compared with the fiber diameter of conventional fleece materials of >500 nm. The resulting fleece structure offers enhanced clarification capabilities, even for extremely fine contaminants, along with a high-dirt holding capacity, fast flow rates and high total throughput performance.

Sartoguard NF prefilters are the ideal choice for downstream protection of more expensive sterilizing-grade and Mycoplasma-retentive filters in challenging prefiltration applications for biopharmaceutical manufacturing. In combination with their high total throughput performance, Sartoguard NF prefilters offer significant cost-saving potential due to their ultrafine retention performance, which ensures removal even of extremely small particulate-based contaminants. All active filter materials – membranes and nanofleece – of the new prefilter series are made of polyethersulfone, thus ensuring a minimum extractable footprint. This enables users to easily implement Sartoguard NF into existing filtration processes utilizing final filters already based on PES.

Sartoguard NF filter elements are available in all common filter formats offered by Sartorius Stedim Biotech, such as SartoScale devices for small-scale filterability trials, as well as MidiCaps, MaxiCaps and standard filter cartridges for medium- and commercial-scale manufacturing. Sartoguard NF MidiCaps and MaxiCaps are the first fully gamma irradiatable prefilter series and can be easily integrated into single-use process equipment.

Sartoguard NF filters conclude the launch of the Sartoguard prefilter family, which includes the Sartoguard PES and Sartoguard GF prefilter series that have been successfully introduced to the market earlier. The launch of the Sartoguard prefilter family is an important contribution by Sartorius Stedim Biotech in reducing overall filtration costs in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and in helping biomanufacturers cope with the increasing cost pressure while maintaining and improving their high quality standards.

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