Dear Collegues,
I am using a relevant number of centrifugal filtration tubes made of polyethersulfone (PES) with 2 different MWCO, 5 and 50kDa for separation of protein in milk. They are quite expensive when used in large volume thus I was wondering if there is any particular method for regenerate them. Generally, I see you can clean PES membrane with alkali followed by acid in a time frame of 20min each; I would like to be sure for this specific type of filtration tubes.
Regards,
Giovanni
We are regularly using PES membranes 10 and 30kDa cutoff. After filtration, you may wash it with 0.1N NaOH which solubilized all the adhered protein to it. Later for short term storage you can use 5% ethanol or for long term storage, you can keep these membranes dipped in 0.1N NaOH. These membranes are even autoclavable if too much protein has blocked the membrane which is a rare case.
Dear Giovanni Barone,
The cleaning efficiencies of different cleaning agent like NaOH, NaOCl, H2O2 has been tested previously, out of which, NaOH has offered the best results in terms of cleansing and membrane integrity. Around 0.1 N NaOH will give you the best results with a temperature ranging from 37 to 45 degrees celsius. Briefly, NaOH is alkaline, with pH 11, the negative charge of the solution increases with the addition of OHfrom NaOH. The negative charge of the solution meets the charge from PES membranes that are negatively charged too. The same charge interactions cause a repulsive force bigger and eventually cause the release of foulant from the membrane surface.
For reference articles attached.
Thank You.
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