As Holland prepares to head to the Quattroflow distributor council this week in Washington DC, we wanted to use this post as an opportunity to highlight a success we recently had working with a customer to incorporate the Quattroflow quaternary diaphragm pump.

The Quattroflow Family of Pumps

To begin, let me share some background information on the customer. Located in the Midwest, the end user is a contract manufacturer who partners with companies worldwide to manufacture immunology products that are used to treat life threatening diseases such as coagulation disorders and other disorders of the immune system. One of the most important starting materials for this company is human blood plasma, which is processed into drug product at this company’s facilities.

Pumping plasma, or any other protein rich product for that matter, can be extremely challenging. An ideal pump is gentle on the product, imparts a low amount of shear and kinetic energy, has low pulsation, and should also be able to achieve required flow rates and head pressures. Tubing spallation, or a lack thereof, is also critical in order to eliminate fouling of final downstream sterilizing grade filters.

An ideal system also needed to be able to transition seamlessly between the stainless steel bulk tank and a single use intermediate bag that was being used to feed a single use manifold the customer had in place on their filling machine. The pump and motor also needed to be able to interface with the rest facilities DCS via an Ethernet connection. Common electrical components, such as Turck receptacles, were also preferred.

To achieve this solution, Holland specified the Quattroflow 1200S pump and another Dover product, the Colder STC connector with Aseptiquick G sterile connector. The STC by Colder allows us to create a sterile connection between the tank and pump by SIP and then aseptically connect to the single use flow path. The genderless design of the Aseptiquick G required the CMO to only change one fitting on their single use manifold. All sterile connections could now be made without the use of a laminar flow hood, creating a closed system.

The Quattroflow 1200S was ideal because it is a low shear, low pulsation pump, and can achieve flow rates of up to 1200 liters per hour without having to adjust the tubing (as you would in a peristaltic pump). We also liked this pump because of its versatility and wide operating range, allowing us to hit both high and low flow requirements. The QF 1200 also has single use pump heads which may present future opportunities for an entirely single use flow path.
Holland was able to add additional value to this application by incorporating a customer specified motor and VFD by building our own base and control cabinet. We were able to integrate Turk receptacles and a VFD with Ethernet connectivity to supply power to the pump and also provide feedback to the user’s DCS using ports, cables, and protocols already available.

The end result of is the marriage of two specific products paired together to create an innovative solution no one else could offer. The CMO is now able to transfer large volumes of drug product to this filling machine between reusable and single use flow paths in a manner that maximizes productivity and minimizes chances for cross contamination. We also introduced a platform we will be able to work with the CMO on to develop further into an all single use solution.

For questions about your next challenging pump application, contact a Holland Sales Engineer today.