We are looking at the movement of pharmaceuticals from biosoilds to soils. We have been using Whatman nylon membranes (FisherSci Cat# 7404004). These are made of nylon 6,6. These have worked great, in regards to not interacting with our pharmaceuticals of interest. The draw back is that the largest sold by most providers is the 90 mm disc and I am needing either a sheet or roll. Our custom made filter apparatus is a plate rig that is 10.5 cm x 45 cm. So any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
When you said most providers, I assume you don't know any who can comply. I would suggest discussing with Fisher Scientific or go directly to manufacturer which is apparently Whatman. There willingness to provide a non-standard need may relate to how much you need, and is it cost effective for them to supply it. If your new size might be used by others or not to make it more cost effective to market. You may have to discuss with them whether the membrane would hold up if larger in size, depending on the weigh being filtered, if suction or pressure is used to speed filtration, etc. I have no idea if Whatman is the only manufacturer or not, but that my be your third choice is to try other manufacturers if there are any.
I have purchased nylon mesh from 45 inch rolls from Elko Filtering Co., in Miami, Florida (http://www.elkofiltering.com/store/c/25-Nylon-Mesh.aspx) that theoretically filters down to 1 micron. I have had success using this material to filter the larger clays out of suspensions, though it helps to treat the mesh with alcohol first, seems to remove a hydrophobic residue from manufacturing. Companies like Gilson also sell nylon and polyester mesh cloth from 46 inch rolls (http://www.globalgilson.com/polyester-nylon-monofilament-screen-fabric) but the mesh size only goes down to 7 microns. We also have some old rolls of synthetic filter cloth manufactured by Tekto Inc. out of Switzerland laying around in a lab, but a quick internet search did not locate a website for them.
You have been filtering to 0.5 micron, so maybe the 1 micron mesh will not work for your application. Also, the difference between the membranes you have been and using and a woven mesh could be an issue.
Good luck!
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