Nobody loves a prefilter

If a prefilter could talk, what would it say?

Membrane filters get all the credit! If they could talk, they'd argue "We stop the bugs getting through. We guarantee the quality. Multiple reports and validation guides prove our performance. We're the ones that really matter!"

As humble prefilters, we concede that you're important and expensive – especially if you're not protected...

Prefilters extend life and save money

How do prefilters help membrane filter longevity and save money?

The perceived wisdom is that we aren't that important, so why pay good money for us? The fact is, there's a huge difference in prefilter performance, depending on where you buy us from. It's possible to pick one of us up for next to nothing. The problem is, we'd probably do next to nothing in protecting and improving the lives of membrane filters. 

To prove how important high quality prefiltration is, Amazon Filters ran a few tests with some of my colleagues on protecting a 0.2µ membrane filtering a basic nutraceutical formulation.

Testing

The tests consisted of filtering to blockage (1.5bar differential pressure) and assessing the volume processed using three different prefilters. These had increasing efficiencies, starting with the lowest (prefilter 1) to the highest (prefilter 3). I'm proud to say that prefilter 3 is me. I'm a little more expensive than the rest, but just see what a difference I make!

The table below shows the difference in the relative cost of the filtration process when compared to the best one (prefilter 3).

Why use a prefilter?

The tests teach some valuable lessons:

Test 1: Not protecting your membrane filter can be very expensive (3.5x the cost to filter the same volume).

Test 2: Our surface area isn't the determining factor in how long we last (prefilter 1 has 1.56 times the surface area of prefilter 3 but the filtration train only processes 43% of the volume).

Test 4: Spending a little more on us can have a significant impact on reducing overall costs (an additional spend of 20% per prefilter resulted in a 45% reduction in cost).

How an experienced filter manufacturer can help

Always purchase us from a reputable filter manufacturer who can demonstrate consistent performance and quality. We don’t want to let you down.

Of course, this is just one nutraceutical product and prefiltration requirements differ for every process. Think carefully about what will work best rather than throw any old prefilter in. I hope you now understand how important we are in your filtration process. Maybe now you'll show us a little more love, because we’re worth it!