Advances in Hollow Fiber Contactor Technology in Food, Pharmaceutical, and Biotechnological Separation

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the use of hollow fiber contactors in the food, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology industries. Applications in the food industry are described first. Here, large amounts of effluent containing volatile aroma compounds are produced which may be removed using hollow fiber contactors. Removal of dissolved oxygen is also important. Other effluents produced by the food industry include: distillery waste, fat, oil, and seafood processing contain large amount of aroma and other volatile organic compounds which may be removed using hollow fiber contactors. Next, advances in the pharmaceutical industry are described. Starting from production of pharmaceutical grade water to extraction of antibiotics like penicillin G, drug carriers like Liposomes, HF contactors find many applications. In the biotechnology industry membrane-based separations play an important role. Perhaps the best-known process is blood oxygenation which is a gas absorption/stripping process. Here oxygen passes into the blood while carbon dioxide is removed from the blood. Other emerging applications include tissue engineering and cell therapy. In all these applications membrane-based separation processes are attractive due to easy scale up and gentle processing conditions.