The Technical Definition of Filter Membrane

A laboratory filter membrane, also known as a lab filter membrane or laboratory filtration membrane, is a specialized type of filter membrane designed for laboratory-scale filtration applications. Membrane filtration is a solid-liquid separation technique. It filters water with the membrane pore and filters out the impurities without having any chemical changes. Because the membrane pore is very small, there still remain some technical problems.

The filter membranes are classified according to the sizes of raw water particles. From large to small, the membrane pores are divided into Micro-Filtration membrane, Ultra-Filtration membrane, Nano-Filtration membrane, and Reverse Osmosis membrane. Specifically, the pore size of the MF membrane is above 0.05 um, or above 1,000 molecular weight. It is used for filtering coliform and macromolecular organic matter. The pore size of the NF membrane is between 100 and 1,000 molecular weight. It is used for filtering trihalomethane, peculiar smell, chromaticity, pesticide, and dissolved organic matter. While the pore size of the RO membrane is tens of molecular weight. It is used for filtering table salt and inorganic salt.

On the whole, the materials for making the filter membrane mainly include PTFE, Polyvinylidene Fluoride, Nylon, Cellulose Acetate, and so on.

Furthermore, there is no need to use chemical treatment of flocculation and chemical treatment of flocculation when using a filter membrane. The most important feature of the filter membrane is that it only needs pressure to separate the solid from the liquid.

A lab filter membrane is a thin, porous material used in laboratory settings for the separation, purification, or particle removal from fluids (liquids or gases). Similar to filter membranes used in industrial processes, lab filter membranes are made from materials such as polymers, cellulose derivatives, ceramics, or metals. These membranes have a well-defined pore size that allows the passage of certain particles or molecules while blocking others based on their size, charge, or chemical properties.

Lab filter membranes are available in a range of pore sizes, typically categorized into microfiltration (larger pores), ultrafiltration (smaller pores), and sometimes nanofiltration (even smaller pores). The choice of the membrane’s pore size depends on the specific application and the particle size to be retained or removed from the fluid being filtered.

Lab filter membranes are commonly used in various laboratory filtration techniques, including:

1. Filtration of particulate matter from liquids or gases.
2. Clarification and purification of cell culture media or fermentation broths.
3. Separation and purification of proteins, nucleic acids, and other biomolecules.
4. Sample preparation in analytical techniques such as HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography) or GC (Gas Chromatography).
5. Due to their importance in laboratory research and analysis, lab filter membranes are manufactured with high precision to ensure consistent pore sizes and reliable performance. They are typically supplied in various forms, such as membranes for use with syringe filters, filter funnels, vacuum filtration assemblies, and membrane discs for filtration on solid support.
6. Microelectronics industry: Used in processes in the semiconductor industry, such as preparing photolithography masks.
7. Biopharmaceutical experiments: Used in the pre-treatment process for preparing biological agents, vaccines, etc.
8. Microbiology experiments: Used to isolate and culture microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, etc.
9. Biochemistry experiments: In experiments such as protein purification and enzyme activity detection, filter membranes are used to separate solid particles or macromolecules.
10. Analytical chemistry experiments: In the sample pretreatment process, it is used to remove suspended particles, sediments, etc. to purify the sample.
11. Molecular biology experiments: It is used to separate DNA/RNA and remove impurities during DNA/RNA extraction and PCR experiments.
12. Pharmaceutical experiments: Used for purification of pharmaceutical preparations, particle detection, etc.
13. Environmental science experiments: Used to separate pollutants in the processing of water samples, air samples, etc.
14. Food science experiments: In the processing of food samples, it is used to remove impurities, detect microorganisms, etc.
15. Chemical synthesis experiment: Used to separate and purify compounds and remove insoluble impurities.
16. Medical experiments: In clinical testing, it is used for the processing of blood, urine and other samples.

Lab filter membranes play a crucial role in enabling researchers to obtain purified samples, remove contaminants, and prepare samples for analysis, contributing to the accuracy and reliability of laboratory data across diverse scientific disciplines.