Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Summary
• Plastic disposable containers offer the best solution in disposable
components utilization as they remove the cleaning and valida-
tion requirements.
• Low-density PE liners in a hard-walled plastic container and a stan-
dard mixer make the cheapest combination of pieces to prepare buf-
fers and media.
• More complex mixing systems are not necessary, and neither are the
expensive proprietary containers to hold these PE liners.
• 2D bags can be used only for smaller-size volumes, while 3D bags
with an outer nondisposable container increase the limit of fluids
that can be contained to thousands of liters.
• Several novel shapes and sizes are available to fit just about any need.
• Flexible bags can be used for the transportation of biological drugs
and, while they survive freeze-thaw cycles, it is often difficult to
record breaches in their integrity, thus requiring an outer protec-
tive surface.
• Custom-designed bags are readily available, but these are very
expensive and do not give the user the benefit of the large database
provided by the vendors, so one should stick to off-the-shelf prod-
ucts whenever possible.
• Future novel uses of bags may include storage of WCB for direct
addition to bioreactors.
