Protective Filtration for Microfluidic Nanoparticle Precipitation for Pharmaceutical Applications

• Published in: Chemical engineering & technology Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 457 - 464
• Main Authors: Bolze, Holger, Riewe, Juliane, Bunjes, Heike, Dietzel, Andreas, Burg, Thomas P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frankfurt Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-03-2021
• Subjects: Filtration; In‐line filtration; Lipid nanoparticles; Lipids; Membrane filtration; Microfluidics; Nanoparticle synthesis; Nanoparticles; Precipitation
• ISSN: 0930-7516; 1521-4125
• DOI: 10.1002/ceat.202000475

Microfluidic processes are of great interest for the production of nanoparticles with reproducible properties. However, in real systems, it is difficult to completely exclude incidental production of larger particles, which can contaminate the product or clog downstream process modules. A class of microfluidic filters was devised for eliminating particulate contamination in multistage continuous‐flow processes. To achieve high throughput and filtration efficiency, a high‐surface‐area filter with an application‐adapted bonding method was developed. As a model application, the filtration efficiency was analyzed for lipid nanoparticles made by microfluidic antisolvent precipitation and the results were compared with requirements of the European and US guidelines.
Removing microparticles reliably and continuously from a microfluidic product stream is still an open challenge. A membrane‐based filter was developed to remove microparticulate contamination from pharmaceutical formulations in microfluidic systems. The filtration efficiency for lipid nanoparticles produced by microfluidic precipitation is compared to US and European pharmacopeia requirements.