Nanofiltration in the Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Technology

Abstract Separation processes account for up to 40%–70% of both capital and operating costs in many industries including fine chemical, pharmaceutical, and biopharmaceutical industries, and there is a constant search for efficient and economical separation methods. Membrane separations have been investigated already for many years as an alternative to conventional separation processes (e.g., distillation). Despite many proven success stories, multiple challenges still remain, hampering wider application of membranes. One such challenge is the imperfect separation provided by membranes and their inability to fully discriminate between solutes even with significant differences in their molecular size. In this chapter, we will focus our attention on how the imperfect separation gridlock might be resolved via multistage membrane processes operated in batch and continuous mode. Examples will be presented for typical separation challenges faced by the pharmaceutical industry such as purification, fractionation, solvent recovery, and solvent exchange.