Buffers and process liquids

Overview of single-use liquids

Single-use liquids come in bioprocess containers. They are bulk liquids in varying sizes for process development and biomanufacturing for therapy production. These products are provided with connectors to simplify aseptic connections with single-use tubing for automated operations, such as media preparation, buffer preparation, and chromatography resin cleaning. Single-use liquids undergo rigorous quality control to ensure high quality from batch to batch.

Buffers are chemicals that allow solutions and liquids to resist changes in their acidic properties. They consist of a proton donor and a conjugate base. In research, buffers are often provided as dry powder, but using buffer solutions in bottles can save time and streamline experiments, because they don’t need to be hydrated before use. Typical uses include preparation of cell culture media. Common buffers are HEPES, MOPS, Tris HCl, and DPBS.

Maintain osmotic pressure and pH in cell culture using balanced salt solutions. These combinations of inorganic salts act as buffers to protect cells from pH fluctuations and balance osmotic pressure on the cell membrane. Common chemicals in BSS formulations are sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and chloride (Cl). Na and K balance tonicity and permeability, while Ca and Mg help preserve the integrity of cell membranes and internal structures. Balanced salt solutions often have bicarbonates and phosphates that help to maintain the hydrogen ion concentration. You can also use BSS to wash cells and tissues after culture.

Water for injection (WFI) quality water is a single-use liquid that’s widely used in pharmaceutical process development and GMP manufacturing. It’s used in cell culture processes, for cleaning and rinsing, and for buffer preparation. Cytiva’s WFI quality water is extensively purified to meet or exceed stringent specifications in our ISO 9001 certified facilities. The WFI quality water is processed and tested to ensure low endotoxin levels, and each lot comes with a certificate of analysis. These WFI products ensure consistency in biomanufacturing processes and are available in pack sizes up to 200 L.

Cytiva also provides sterile cell culture-grade and molecular biology-grade water for use in research.

The term process liquids is sometimes used interchangeably with single-use liquids.

At Cytiva, process liquids are used to describe single-component bulk liquids in single-use containers for specific applications in bioprocessing. Bulk 20% ethanol in volumes up to 200 L is used for cleaning and storing chromatography resins. Three concentrations of bulk sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are provided in a wide range of volumes for cleaning and pH adjustment. Both 1 M and 2 M bulk sodium chloride (NaCl) concentrates are available in bioprocess containers up to 200 L.