Unit operation and use thereof

Abstract

The invention provides a unit operation formed by a device and its use for continuous virus inactivation of a continuous flow of a process fluid. The unit operation formed by a device comprises a single inlet at one end and an outlet at the opposite end and at least one HFI, characterized in that the HFI further comprises at least one installation.

Claims

1. A unit operation formed by a device for providing a narrow residence time comprising a single inlet at one end and an outlet at the opposite end and a helical tube comprising at least one installation characterized by at least one of a plurality of geometric elements thereby forming a helical flow inverter or HFI, wherein the at least one installation characterized by at least one of a plurality of geometric elements of the HFI is a device for mixing fluids that does not require an actuated element, but achieves mixing by making use of fluid mechanics, and wherein the unit operation does not require a bend.

2. The unit operation formed by a device according to claim 1, comprising at least two HFIs interconnected in series by at least one linking element.

3. The unit operation formed by a device according to claim 1, wherein the unit operation further comprises a conditioning element, wherein the conditioning element is selected from (i) a container capable of releasing an acidic solution or a solution containing a solvent or detergent for viral inactivating purposes or a caustic solution for viral inactivation into the HFI and/or (ii) a homogenization loop.

4. The unit operation formed by a device according to claim 1, wherein the HFI is designed to be capable of allowing a process fluid to flow continuously through the HFI.

5. The unit operation formed by a device according to claim 1, wherein the unit operation is made from disposable material.

6. The unit operation formed by a device according to claim 1, wherein the HFI has a Dean number from 3 to 100 and/or modified Torsion number between 500 and 10000.

7. The unit operation formed by a device according to claim 1, wherein the installations characterized by at least one of a plurality of geometric elements comprises at least one of a helical element, a plurality of baffles, a contraction choke, a plurality of fluid flow channels, and/or a tube with a circumferential wall having a plurality of indentations.

8. The unit operation formed by a device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one HFI has an axis h that is arranged in an angle between 0° and 90° relative to the direction of gravitation, and wherein the at least one HFI is positioned in at least one frames carried by a holding rack.

9. The unit operation formed by a device according to claim 1, wherein at least all elements of the unit operation coming into contact with the process fluid are made of disposable and/or sterilisable and/or sanitizable material, wherein the sterilisable and/or sanitizable material optionally is capable of withstanding exposure to autoclavation, to gamma-irradiation, to ethylenoxide and/or NaOH.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The skilled artisan will understand that the drawings, described below, are for illustration purposes only. The drawings are not intended to limit the scope of the present teachings or claims in any way.

(2) FIG. 1 depicts a photograph of a unit (1) operation comprising two HFIs (2) as described herein with the following dimensions: inner tube diameter 6.4 mm, coil tube diameter 0.2 m, number of installations for each HFI 40, height of each HFI 130 cm.

(3) FIG. 2 shows the residence time distribution of a unit operation formed by a device with a HFI featuring 39 installations, as disclosed herein, in comparison to a unit operation formed by a device with a coiled flow inverter as disclosed in WO 2015/135844 The tube diameter was chosen to be 3.2 mm (⅛″), and the flow rate was set to 60 ml/min. The helical flow inverter had a Reynolds number of >50, a Dean number of >9 and a torsion parameter. It can be clearly seen that the behaviour of the CFI and HFI are very close to each other, showing a very tight residence time distribution. Thus, the HFI can be used for a process scale up without compromising on residence time distribution. As a conclusion the HFI offers the superior scalability (improved removal of air at larger tube diameters) of a simple straight helix in combination with the superior RTD characteristics of the CFI.

DEFINITIONS

(4) Unless stated otherwise in the above, the following terms used in this document, including the description and claims, have the definitions given below.

(5) The word “about” as used herein refers to a value being within an acceptable error range for the particular value as determined by one of ordinary skill in the art, which will depend in part on how the value is measured or determined, i.e., the limitations of the measurement system.

(6) The term “essentially consists of” is understood to allow the presence of additional components in a sample or a composition that do not affect the properties of the sample or a composition. As an illustrative example, a pharmaceutical composition can include excipients if it essentially consists of an active ingredient.

(7) The terms “comprising”, “including,” containing”, “having” etc. shall be read expansively or open-ended and without limitation. Singular forms such as “a”, “an” or “the” include plural references unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to a “tube” includes a single tube as well as a plurality of tubes. Unless otherwise indicated, the term “at least” preceding a series of elements is to be understood to refer to every element in the series. The terms “at least one” and “at least one of” include for example, one, two, three, four, or five or more elements. It is furthermore understood that slight variations above and below a stated range can be used to achieve substantially the same results as a value within the range. Also, unless indicated otherwise, the disclosure of ranges is intended as a continuous range including every value between the minimum and maximum values.

(8) The scope and meaning of any use of a term will be apparent from the specific context in which the term is used. Certain further definitions for selected terms used throughout this document are given in the appropriate context of the detailed description, as applicable. Unless otherwise defined, all other scientific and technical terms used in the description, figures and claims have their ordinary meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.

(9) As used herein, the term “continuous” refers to the fact that the input of the components to be processed and/or a process fluid into a unit e.g. the unit operation formed by the device described herein and the removal of the processed components and/or the product stream from said unit, take place without interruption. In other words, a subsequent unit operation can start processing the product fluid before a first unit operation has finished processing the product fluid.

(10) As used herein the term “homogenization loop” refers to a piece of tubing, which allows the process fluid to be circulated e.g. pumped in said piece of tubing until a desired characteristic is reached. For example, the piece of tubing is circular and the process fluid is pumped around said circle until a pH value of <4 is reached.

(11) The listing or discussion of a previously published document in this specification should not necessarily be taken as an acknowledgement that the document is part of the state of the art or is common general knowledge.

EXAMPLES

Materials and Methods

Liquids

(12) Ultrapure water is provided by the water treatment system Milli-Q® Direct by Merck Millipore (Billerica, USA) and is filled into a 30 L plastic barrel from the company MAUSER (Brühl, Germany) For conductivity measurements, a solution of 1 M NaCl is prepared by dissolving crystalline NaCl from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, USA) in Milli-Q® water, which is stored in a 30 L plastic barrel (MAUSER).

Hoses

(13) All hoses are obtained from the company Saint Gobain Performance Plastics (Charny, France). The hoses used are C-Flex 374 biopharmaceutical tubing (3.2 mm and 6.4 mm ID) and PharMED BPT biopharmaceutical tubing (3.2 mm ID). Straight connectors obtained from the company Nordson Medical (Loveland, USA) serve as connecting pieces.

Degassing Module

(14) MicroModule® degassing modules from Liqui-Cel Membrana (Charlotte, USA) are used for the in-line degassing of the liquids.

Pump

(15) The pump is a Masterflex® L/S hose pump with an easy-load II pumphead by Cole-Parmer (Wertheim, Germany).

Analysis

(16) For an analysis of the residence time behaviour, the conductivity is measured and recorded.

Conductivity Measurements

(17) Conductivity is measured using PendoTECH (Princeton, USA) single-use conductivity sensors (CONDS-N-25). For data recording, the sensors are connected to the PressureMAT™ Plus (PendoTECH) program via a CMONT conductivity monitor on a commercially available laptop.