Comparison of Polyamide and Polypropylene Membranes for Plasma Separation

Abstract

Plasma separation experiments were made with polyamide experimental prototype hollow-fiber plasma filters with surface areas between 0.025 m² and 0.1090 m² using bovine blood collected in acid citrate dextrose (ACD). The maximum filtration velocity rose with the wall shear rate γ_w as γ_w^{0.72 ± 0 02} and decreased with the length of fiber L as L^-0.41 with a correlation coefficient of 0.97 ± 0.02. The results were similar to those with polypropylene fibers. We also investigated the occurrence of hemolysis as a function of shear rate and transmembrane pressure. The free hemoglobin concentration of filtered plasma was checked using a U.V. spectrophotometer. It was concluded that polyamide membrane filters can be safely used for plasma separation from blood.