Comparison of polyamide and polypropylene membranes for plasma separation

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 gamma w as gamma 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.