EXPLOITING TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE TO IMPROVE SELECTIVITY IN MEMBRANE-BASED PLASMAPHERESIS

Temperature effects on cross-flow membrane plasmapheresis have been in vestigated with the help of hydrophillic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF ) Durapore membranes of pore size 0.65 mu m and an effective filtratio n area 30 cm(2), using a thin-channel device (Minitan-S, Millipore Inc ., U.S.A.) and goat's blood as the working fluid. The filtration and s ieving properties have been characterized by evaluating normal saline (0.9 g%) flux and the sieving coefficients of albumin, immunoglobulins , and fibrinogen respectively. Runs were performed at 10 +/- 1, 20 +/- 1, 30 +/- 1 and 40 +/- 1 degrees C, the various filtration parameters were measured and samples of the feed and permeate were collected dur ing steady state. It is seen that the ''effective'' pore size increase s with temperature increase thereby increasing flux, sieving and fouli ng. Exploiting temperature effects can possibly help modify the sievin g spectrum in membrane-based plasmapheresis.