MEMBRANE APPLICATIONS IN THE LIFE SCIENCE RESEARCH MARKET

摘要

Membrane products for the life science industry represent one of the highest value applications for membrane technology. The applications are highly varied and range from small scale (e.g., less than a microliter) to large volume requirements in the manufacture of Pharmaceuticals. Penetration into these markets comes at a high cost, however. Applications in the laboratory environment are often limited in the number of units sold and in the high cost of developing and supporting the narrow applications. Furthermore, there are thousands of life science laboratories located worldwide and access to these labs is often prohibitive in light of the small sales volume for individual labs. Large scale applications are often characterized by high validation costs and long lead times in any purchase decision. Nonetheless, the life science industry utilizes membrane technology in some fascinating applications and this has led to some novel products and membrane development activities. This presentation will focus on the research (laboratory) markets where sample volumes are typically below 1 liter.