With the pharma and biotech industries under the spotlight as the pandemic has continued, is your business’s fluid transfer pumps able to manage containment, separation, and sterilisation?
The on-going pandemic has taught pharma manufacturers that they need efficient plant and processes that are robust and efficient. Innovating at speed also means having reliable pumping capabilities that form a critical component of each process across the pharma, biotech, and life science industries.
As biotech and pharma processes can be complex and must occur within a sterile environment, the pumping mechanisms in use should also support these conditions. One vital component of the pumping process is choosing the right diaphragm.
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Ensuring the pump diaphragm in use is matched to the liquid being transferred is critical to ensure the pumping process is efficient and free from contaminants. Trapped fluids can quickly lead to stagnation, which in turn can result in product contamination, with loss of the current manufacturing batch and a knock-on impact on efficiency and cost.
Next-generation diaphragms
Currently, all pumping media must be able to comply with SIP/CIP procedures. Indeed, plant operators in pharma manufacturing need to assess the characteristics of the materials being pumped, the environment the fluid is placed within, and the surfaces that the pumping process comes into contact with.
Reliability across the pumping environment is paramount. Here, the quality of the diaphragm and the materials they are made from must be carefully considered. The surface of the diaphragm in use is a critical component. Cross-contamination and vapour leakage can be avoided by choosing high-quality PTFE diaphragms for your business's pumping processes.
At Saint-Gobain, we have been developing our Flex Barrier products to meet the stringent standards the pharma and biotech manufacturers have come to expect. Our Flex Barrier products are ideal in a pumping process as they have high purity and are engineered with the highest quality virgin PTFE resins.
We understand that the chemical processes our diaphragms may be exposed to could be corrosive. However, Saint-Gobain's CHEMFILM® materials offer almost universal chemical resistance with low permeability and extremely low moisture absorption characteristics of < 0.01% making CHEMFILM® a leader in this sector.
As diaphragms are in constant motion, the CHEMFILM® material is resistant to the breakdown of its surface and can withstand elongation fatigue over long periods of operation. CHEMFILM® diaphragms offer a fracture strain of at least 280% (min. values) and a tensile modulus of 80,000 psi with a tensile strength range from min. values of 3500 psi/25 N/mm²
Also, pumps and their diaphragm components must perform over the long term at high temperatures. Virgin PTFE has a typical continuous use temperature of 260°C (500°F), enabling minor to no loss of mechanical function at elevated temperatures for up to 20,000 service hours. And CHEMFILM® Flex Barriers are certified with a typical melt temperature of 327°C (620°F), providing peace of mind for extreme operating conditions.
No matter the pumping environment you have across your business's process, Saint-Gobain can tailor your PTFE diaphragms to ensure they meet your needs today and tomorrow. Offering a base material that meets all compliance requirements, we can customise your diaphragm material to meet any specific needs. Furthermore, as our Flex Barrier and CHEMFILM® offer broad flexibility, we can fulfil your precise requirements.
Diaphragm innovation
Your business needs to ensure maximum uptime of your processes to meet strict production deadlines. In addition, the reliable, secure, and contamination-free movement of fluids, gases, slurries, or gas-liquid combinations within your production must have reliable pump components—this is especially important within pharma and biotech production.
Pumping can be a fundamental component of a production process. As a result, pump failures can be costly in lost production and shutdowns, adversely impacting your businesses. A pump failure could quickly affect other components in your production process, further extending the time your plant is offline. Mitigating incidents of pump failures can be achieved by choosing to use reliable pump diaphragms that have been proven in the marketplace.
The pump diaphragm your business chooses is a critical component of your entire production process. Flex Barrier and CHEMFILM® together offer several key advantages, including reduction permeation, long flex life, minimised leaks and voids, chemical resistance, smoother flow and full compliance with food, beverage, sanitary and medical applications.
At Saint-Gobain, our long association with the pharma, biotech and life science industries has placed us in a unique position: We have taken our technical experience and expertise and connected this to the conversations we have had with our clients and customers to develop a unique approach to PTFE diaphragm valves for pumps your business can used to transform its pumping processes.
Saint-Gobain FILMS & FABRICS
About us
We are a leading multi-materials solutions company focused on solutions that enable better outcomes across the industry and daily life of us all. Leveraging cutting edge process technologies and customer insights, we use a broad range of advanced materials to develop high-performance polymer composites. We manufacture products, develop multi-material solutions or help our customers to integrate their systems, whether our customers: look for consistent release and efficiency improvements; build components for energy efficiency; want to protect against harmful conditions; maintain purity of their products or are looking to design equipment with highest level of signal integrity
Saint-Gobain FILMS & FABRICS has a worldwide footprint with 7 industrial sites and a commercial and technical presence in all six continents; we also benefit from Saint-Gobain group's state-of-the-art Research & Development facilities located in France, USA, China, and India on top of the specific development capabilities we have in our Films & Fabrics manufacturing plants. We leverage on those capabilities to design multi-material solutions suited to your local or global needs in multiple markets and applications that withstand the most extreme conditions.
https://www.films.saint-gobain.com/solutions/diaphragms-valves
http://https://medias.im.saint-gobain.com/ebooks/Internet/flex-barriers-for-dipahragm-pumps/
What we do in a nutshell
We are a leading multi-materials solutions company focused on solutions that enable better outcomes across the industry and daily life of us all. Leveraging cutting edge process technologies and customer insights, we use a broad range of advanced materials to develop high-performance polymer composites.
Where we supply to
UK Ireland, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, North America
Industries we supply to
Chemicals, Food and Beverage, Pharmaceutical Cosmetics Toiletries
Something interesting you may not know about us:
Our Flex barriers have been used in pumps by the Ariane Group on the Ariane 5.
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