Hawach to Talk About the Applications and Differences Filter Membrane

Based on membrane filtration principle, Hawach provides different types of microporous membranes. Filter membranes are mainly used for the filtration of the mobile phase and samples in chromatographic analysis. PVDF membrane protein binding is widely used in gravimetric analysis, microanalysis, colloid separation, and sterility test. Filter membranes of different materials have different characteristics and different applications. The description and application of PES VS PVDF filter, difference between PVDF and nylon filters membrane, and NC membrane are as follows.

1. PES filter membranes

Polyethersulfone (PES for short) is prepared by the condensation of 4,4′-bissulfonyl chloride diphenyl ether with diphenyl ether catalyzed by anhydrous ferric chloride. For the heat resistance ability, it is between polysulfone and polyarylsulfone. It has excellent aging resistance and can be used for up to 20 years at 180°C. It has good flame resistance and does not emit smoke even if it burns and also features good creep resistance.

Applications: For general alkali, aliphatic hydrocarbons, oils, and alcohols, the PES filter membrane’s performance is stable, and suitable for physical and chemical sterilization, such as high-pressure steam, gamma radiation, and ethylene oxide sterilization, with high bubble point and excellent membrane integrity. The PES filter membrane material has a very low protein adsorption rate, which can ensure the stability of the components of the filtered drug solution, and is suitable for disposable precision filtration infusion sets and anesthesia drug solution filters. PES is often used in the manufacture of hemodialyzers, blood concentrators, artificial lungs, etc. due to its excellent mechanical properties, stable wetting strength, and blood compatibility.

PES filter vs PVDF. PES vs PVDF filter. PVDF filter membranes have higher oxidant resistance and mechanical strength than PES filter.

2. PVDF filter membrane (Polyvinylidene fluoride membrane)
PVDF membrane, or polyvinylidene fluoride membrane, is a kind of solid-phase support commonly used in Western blotting. The PVDF membrane is hydrophobic, and the pore size of the membrane can be large or small. As the pore size of the membrane continues to decrease, the membrane is more firmly bound to low molecular weight proteins.

For proteins larger than 20000, a 0.45um membrane is used, and for proteins smaller than 20000, a 0.2um membrane is used. The use of the PVDF membrane requires pretreatment. The purpose of methanol treatment is to activate the positively charged groups on the membrane, making it easier to bind to negatively charged proteins. With high mechanical strength, the PVDF membrane is an ideal solid support material in the imprinting method. In addition, PVDF vs PES. PVDF filter membranes have a slower flow rate than PES filter membranes;

Applications: Hydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride membrane is mainly used in gas and vapor filtration, and high-temperature liquid filtration; hydrophilic polyvinylidene fluoride membrane is mainly used in tissue culture medium, additives, and other sterilization filtration solvents, and purification filtration of chemical raw materials, aseptic processing of reagents, filtration of high-temperature liquids, etc. PES vs PVDF. If your application involves exposure to higher temperatures, PES might be more suitable than PVDF due to its better temperature stability.

PVDF vs PES. In summary, PVDF membranes are preferred for applications requiring excellent chemical resistance and low protein binding, such as protein analysis and filtration of aggressive solvents. On the other hand, PES membranes are chosen for applications demanding high flow rates, low protein binding, and compatibility with aqueous solutions, such as sterile filtration and general laboratory filtration.

Click here to know “PVDF vs PTFE” and “PVDF Membrane Filter Media Introduction“.

3. Nylon membrane
Nylon membrane is a synthetic long-chain polyamide membrane, which has a strong binding ability to nucleic acid and protein and can replace nitrocellulose membranes for molecular imprinting and hybridization experiments. Nylon membrane features good temperature resistance, which can withstand 121℃ saturated steam hot-press sterilization for 30min, and the maximum working temperature is 60℃; also, it has good chemical stability, which can withstand dilute acid, dilute alkali, various organic and inorganic compounds such as alcohols, esters, oils, hydrocarbons, halogenated hydrocarbons, and organic oxides. Difference between PVDF and nylon filters. Nylon membranes have higher protein binding properties compared to PVDF membranes.

Applications: Electronic, microelectronics, semiconductor industry water filtration, tissue culture medium filtration; liquid medicine filtration, beverage filtration, high-purity chemical filtration; filtration of aqueous solutions, and organic mobile phases. It has the widest applications, such as aqueous solution and organic mobile phase filtration; filtration of beverage and chemical liquid; filtration of tissue culture medium, and so on.

Click here to know “Features and Applications of Nylon Filter Membrane“.

4. NC membrane
Nitrocellulose filter membrane (NC membrane for short) is used in Northern Blot, Southern Blot, and Western Blot. Hybridization techniques include solid-phase hybridization and liquid-phase hybridization. Solid-phase hybridization technology is currently more commonly used.

The nucleic acid to be tested is bound to certain solid-phase support and then hybridized with the labeled probe in the liquid phase. Nitrocellulose membranes are commonly used for solid supports.

Difference between Nylon and PVDF filters membrane, and NC filter membrane

Nylon vs PVDF filter, NC filter membrane. Difference between nylon and PVDF filters membrane, Nylon membrane is an ideal nucleic acid solid support and there are many types; nitrocellulose membrane is currently the most widely used solid support with the cheapest price; the PVDF membrane is somewhere in between.

1. In terms of the Material Composition of Nylon membrane, PVDF membrane, and NC membrane

• Nylon: Nylon filters are made from a synthetic polymer known as polyamide. They are hydrophilic, meaning they have an affinity for water and other polar solvents.
• PVDF: PVDF filters are composed of a synthetic fluoropolymer called polyvinylidene fluoride. PVDF membranes are hydrophobic, repelling water and attracting nonpolar solvents.
• NC: NC filters are made from a naturally derived polymer called nitrocellulose. Nitrocellulose is also hydrophilic and has good protein binding capacity.

2. In terms of the Chemical Compatibility of Nylon membrane, PVDF membrane, and NC membrane

• Nylon: Nylon filters are chemically compatible with a wide range of solvents, acids, and bases. They are suitable for applications involving organic solvents and aqueous solutions.
• PVDF: PVDF filters have excellent chemical compatibility with strong acids, bases, and organic solvents. They are resistant to many chemicals and are commonly used in aggressive chemical filtration.
• NC: NC filters have limited chemical compatibility and are susceptible to degradation in some organic solvents, strong acids, and bases. They are primarily used for applications involving protein or nucleic acid analysis.

3. In terms of the Pore Size and Filtration Efficiency of Nylon membrane, PVDF membrane, and NC membrane

• Nylon: Nylon filters are available in a wide range of pore sizes, typically ranging from 0.1 μm to 10 μm. They offer high flow rates and good particle retention.
• PVDF: PVDF filters are also available in various pore sizes, ranging from 0.1 μm to 5 μm. They offer high flow rates and have excellent particle retention properties.
• NC: NC filters are commonly used in protein analysis and are available in different pore sizes, typically ranging from 0.1 μm to 0.45 μm. They provide good protein binding and retention.

4. In terms of the Toughness of Nylon membrane, PVDF membrane, and NC membrane

• Nylon membrane is stronger.
• PVDF membrane is stronger.
• NC membrane is more brittle and easily broken.

5. In terms of the Binding Capacity of Nylon membrane, PVDF membrane, and NC membrane

Nylon vs PVDF filter.

• Nylon membranes can bind DNA and RNA up to 480-600μg / cm2 and can bind nucleic acid fragments as short as 10bp.
• PVDF membrane can bind DNA and RNA up to 125-300μg / cm2.
• NC membranes can bind DNA and RNA up to 80-100μg / cm2. The 200bp nucleic acid fragment has a weak binding ability.

6. In terms of Temperature Adaptability of Nylon membrane, PVDF membrane, and NC membrane

• After the nylon membrane is baked or irradiated with ultraviolet rays, some of the pyrimidine bases in the nucleic acid can be combined with the positive charge on the membrane.
• PVDF membrane is firmly bonded and resistant to high temperatures and is particularly suitable for Western blotting.
• Nitrocellulose membrane relies on hydrophobic interaction to bind DNA and the binding is not strong.

7. In terms of Repeatability of Nylon membrane, PVDF membrane, and NC membrane

(1) The nylon membrane can be used repeatedly for molecular hybridization. After hybridization, the probe molecules can be eluted by alkali denaturation; the PVDF membrane can be reused; the nitrocellulose membrane cannot be reused.

(2) Compared with nitrocellulose membranes, PVDF membranes have superior performance in protein retention, mechanical strength, and chemical compatibility. The typical binding capacity of commercially available nitrocellulose membrane is 80-100μg / cm2, while the binding capacity of the PVDF membrane is 100-200μg / cm2 (and the binding strength of PVDF is 6 times stronger than nitrocellulose membrane!).

But the biggest advantage of PVDF membranes is not only this: better mechanical strength and chemical resistance make PVDF membranes ideal for various staining applications and multiple immunoassays, and a single lane copy of the gel can be used for multiple purposes, in particular, it is necessary to do N-terminal protein sequencing.

Under fairly “severe” cleaning conditions, the PVDF membrane remains intact when the nylon or nitrocellulose membrane has been degraded, so PVDF is also the best choice for protein sequencing. But it is not suitable for fluorescence. Particular attention should be paid to PVDF membranes that require 100% methanol pretreatment (not more than 15 seconds) and then equilibrated with buffer before they can be used.

(3) Since the protein-bound on the NC membrane will be replaced by some detergents, use a milder Tween20 when blocking, and the concentration should not exceed 0.3%. Generally speaking, the purer the NC membrane, the higher its protein binding capacity, so it is a consideration to increase the sensitivity and resolution of WB and improve the purity of the membrane used. If the NC membrane is mixed with some cellulose acetate, which has been mentioned before, it will affect the protein binding.

(4) The use of the NC membrane is also very simple. For example, no formaldehyde pretreatment is required, as long as it is infiltrated on the surface of non-ionized water to expel the air bubbles in the membrane, and then equilibrated in electrophoresis buffer for a few minutes; the NC membrane is easy to close, nor particularly strict cleaning conditions are required. The protein transferred to the NC membrane can be stored stably for a long time under appropriate conditions, but it should be noted that the pure nitrocellulose membrane is relatively brittle and easy to roll, and the operation should be careful during use.

When choosing a nitrocellulose membrane, it is necessary to choose a suitable pore size. Generally, large molecular proteins above 20KD use a membrane with a pore size of 0.45um. If the membrane is less than 20KD, it is recommended to choose 0.2um. Also, note that the selection of pure NC membrane mixed with cellulose acetate (CM)-containing the NC membrane will reduce the binding force.

8. In terms of the Applications of Nylon membrane, PVDF membrane, and NC membrane

• Nylon: Nylon filters are versatile and commonly used in a wide range of applications, including HPLC sample preparation, sterile filtration of aqueous solutions, and filtration of solvents and chemicals.
• PVDF: PVDF filters are frequently used in applications requiring chemical resistance, such as aggressive solvent filtration, air and gas filtration, and filtration of strong acids and bases.
• NC: NC filters are primarily used in applications such as protein analysis, Western blotting, dot blot assays, and nucleic acid analysis.

According to the application and difference between nylon membrane, PVDF membrane, and NC membrane, and the sample to be filtered, select the appropriate filter membrane. Hawach is specializing in providing different kinds of filter membranes to meet various lab requirements. Welcome to visit membrane manufacturer HAWACH for more details.

After we know the applications and differences of filter membranes, maybe we also should see the “Cleaning Methods of Membrane Filter“, “Membrane Material and Performance Characteristics of Filter Membrane“, and “Membrane Filtration Applications“.