While quality control is an important aspect for almost all industries, the level of quality control for some particular industries, such as pharmaceuticals, life sciences, and food & beverages, has to be absolutely top-notch. It is quite obvious that these industries deal with crucial elements, and, if not handled properly, serious damage to human health can be caused. Take for example drugs that are used for treating diseases; any sort of impurity in the drug can put the life of a person in jeopardy.
It is due to these reasons that a number of industries make use of laboratory filtration, for making sure that the end product is free of any harmful contaminant. Now, what exactly is laboratory filtration? Filtration can be described as a process where solids are separated from gases or liquids, via various mechanical, biological, and physical operations. Filtration media are utilized for removing the fluid, which can pass through the media, from solid particles, thereby providing the desired purity.
Due to all these reasons, the global laboratory filtration market is predicted to generate revenue of $3.5 billion by 2023, increasing from $2.3 billion in 2017, and it is expected to progress at a 7.3% CAGR during 2018–2023.
Products Used during the Process
Other than the filtration media, filtration accessories and filtration assemblies are also important products that are utilized in laboratory filtration processes, among which the sales of filtration media remains highest. Different types of filtration media, namely syringeless filters, membrane filters, capsule filters, syringe filters, filtration microplates, and filter papers, are needed for different laboratory filtration processes.
The use of membrane filtration has been the widest in the past few years, which definitely couldn’t have been if the product didn’t have any merit. Membrane filters consist of microporous plastic films, along with specific pore-size ratings, which is helpful when it comes to removing minute impurities. Since other filtration media do not have such properties, membrane filters have shown the way forward in most industries.
Insights into Laboratory Filtration Technologies
Now that some light has been shed on the important products used in laboratory filtration processes, it’s time to talk about the different kinds of laboratory filtration technologies.
- Microfiltration: Under this process, a membrane filter that only enables the passing of particles smaller than 0.1 microns is used. This technology is majorly utilized for cold disinfection of beverages and pharmaceuticals, clarification of fruit juices, beers, and wines, and pretreatment, prior to the reverse osmosis (RO) purification, for removing suspended solids that can damage the RO membranes.
- Ultrafiltration: The pore size of the membranes used in this process is generally 103–106 Daltons (Da). This pressure-driven barrier technology is utilized for suspending bacteria, endotoxins, solids, viruses, and other kinds of pathogens, and it is majorly used for producing water with a low silt density and very high purity.
- RO: Much like ultrafiltration, this technology is utilized for removing a majority of the contaminants from water, which is done by pushing the water through a semi-permeable membrane, under pressure. The process is able to remove a large portion of the particles, dissolved salts, organics, colloids, pyrogens, and bacteria from the feed water.
- Nanofiltration: This is one of the latest technologies when it comes to laboratory filtration. The membrane is somewhat between ultrafiltration and RO, in the basis of its ability to reject ionic or molecular species. The cut-off pore size of these membranes lies between 1,000–200 Da. Some of the features of the nanofiltration technology are a low-to-moderate rejection capability against monovalent ions, very high rejection capability against multivalent ions, and high rejection capability against organic compounds.
- Vacuum Filtration: This is a convenient and easy way for filtering fluids, as the vacuum can be generated by a faucet aspiration system, using a pump, or in-house vacuum lines. This technology is majorly utilized in laboratory and microbiological procedures, which involve the collection of particulates containing precipitates and bacteria, from a liquid suspension.
Out of all these, the utilization of microfiltration has been the highest, as it is being used in a number of industries for various processes.
Rising Prevalence of Chronic Diseases Making Usage of Laboratory Filtration Essential in Asia-Pacific
While the adoption of this technology has been high in developed countries in the North American and European regions for quite a while, its usage is expected to rise considerably in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in the immediate future. Other than the increasing number of people suffering from chronic diseases in the region, the enhancing healthcare infrastructure and growing production of pharmaceutical products are also contributing significantly to the increasing need for advanced filtration technologies.
The production of pharmaceutical products is particularly high in Japan. As per the data by the International Trade Administration, on the basis of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s annual pharmaceutical production statistics, in 2015, the production of non-prescription and prescription pharmaceuticals accounted for $88 billion in 2015 in Japan. This is the major reason for the growing use of laboratory filtration products in the region.
Laboratory Filtration Technologies also Important in Food & Beverage Industry
It has been quite clear that the major demand for laboratory filtration products is being created from the pharmaceuticals and water treatment industries; however, the food & beverage industry is also among the key users of these processes and products. The membrane filtration technique is being used increasingly in the food & beverage industry, due to its effective results in terms of clarification, purification, concentration, and fractionation. Such techniques help in improving the quality of food products and various kinds of beverages as well.
Hence, the companies in the domain are now focusing on developing more efficient laboratory filtration products, in order to provide customers with the best solutions. The rising adoption of laboratory filtration techniques in several industries, due to the general regard for people’s health as well as the strict regulatory environment and people’s growing awareness of how their food or medicines are prepared, is driving the need for advanced products.
Source: P&S Intelligence
Author Bio:
Sachin has around 7 years of experience in market research and consulting services for healthcare industry. He holds varied experience in market sizing and forecasting with varied models, competition landscape, consumer behavior analysis, opportunity analysis, product/company benchmarking, data mining and others.
He has successfully delivered multiple projects on go-to-market strategies, pricing strategy, price point analysis, Business Expansion, market entry and exit, share analysis and others. Prior to joining P&S Intelligence, he worked with different research companies, including Transparency Market Research and MarketsandMarkets Pvt Ltd.
Some of the projects delivered by him include Scar Treatment Market, Skin Replacement and Substitutes Market, and Energy-Based Aesthetic Devices Market.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
