The way we work has changed significantly in many ways over the last 150 years. In recent decades, our work has become increasingly dominated by sedentary activities. Spending long periods in front of a monitor without many varieties has become the norm for many in everyday office life. However, this is not without consequences, the effects range from neck and back pain and headaches to a loss of energy and concentration. It is easy to forget that health is a person’s most important asset, both physically and mentally.

Here at vipur, we have made it our mission to maintain and strengthen the health of our employees in the long term, without making major changes to efficient work processes. To achieve this long-term impact on a good understanding of health, awareness must also be raised among our employees. Physical activity during working hours should not be seen as a waste of time, but rather as a complement and a tool for a healthier life for our employees. We have therefore considered how to promote physical fitness.

Sustainable impact – movement as added value across all areas

For us, our employees are the driving force behind vipur. That is why it was clear to us from the outset that we should make everyday office life not only productive but also sustainable. In this context, it was particularly important for us to create suitable conditions that reduce the strain of daily desk work, thereby maintaining our health in the best possible way in the long term. For this reason, we recognised early that we needed to invest in these areas whilst considering the individuality of the human body.

Consequently, ergonomic chairs are now part of our standard equipment for all workstations, which can be personally adjusted to suit the individual physical differences of our employees. To complement this, we have purchased height-adjustable desks and monitors with the corresponding ergonomic keyboards and mice. The aim was to create the basis for varied movement without requiring any additional effort. Our standing mats also provide further variety. These are designed to simulate an unstable surface, thereby gently activating the body whilst standing upright, which helps to strengthen the muscles, particularly in the spine and neck areas.

By creating a literally ‘active workplace’, we ensure the stability of work processes and can guarantee consistently better performance from our staff.

With these targeted measures to ergonomically customise the workplace, we avoid long-term issues such as loss of productivity and physical complaints.

Less is often more – take breaks

What may sound contradictory at first, as time is often equated with money, proves to be extremely effective on closer inspection. As a short-term solution, walking and standing breaks have a miraculous effect on body and mind.

A helpful approach for this is both practical and easy to implement: the so-called ‘40-15-5 rule’ – it works as follows:

• 40 minutes sitting
•  15 minutes standing
•   5 minutes walking

Especially with height-adjustable desks, such as those in our office, this dynamic can be easily incorporated into the daily work routine. Alternatively, you can also incorporate small routines throughout the day.

Here are a few tips:
Change your posture regularly, as there isn’t just one ‘correct’ position, it’s the variation that makes the important difference. Stand up, fetch a glass of water or a coffee, and whilst doing so, roll your shoulders and gently tilt your head from side to side to prevent your joints from stiffening. I’d also like to highlight the importance of staying hydrated throughout the day. The best approach is to keep a nice jug of water with slices of lemon or other fruit next to you at your desk and top it up with fresh water several times a day, this is often the easiest way to manage it.

But does it really make a significant difference if you take all these tips to heart? The answer is ‘yes’, because the rationale behind all these ‘exercises’ is easily explained. When the body is in motion, blood circulates more freely than when sitting still, resulting in better oxygen supply, including to the brain. It therefore makes sense to apply this rule, particularly when performing cognitively demanding tasks, to prevent fatigue setting in during the day.

As is so often the case, it is not the intensity but the frequency that is crucial to ensuring consistent progress and effective prevention.

We at vipur – what our daily lives look like

Especially at the start of spring, in combination with the New Year’s resolution, we’re still motivated to take better care of our bodies, but we’ve all surely found that these bursts of motivation often fade as the year goes on. That’s why it’s important to find simple, practical rules that can be integrated into our daily lives without major changes. As a company, we’ve been helped by the knowledge I, Simon Kratochvil, gained during my training as a state-certified sports instructor.

For us, the first step begins even before we start work, namely on the journey to the office. As soon as the weather permits, some of our staff cycle to work, and we provide bike racks at our office. These 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the route taken, serve not only as a commute but also as an active start to the day. Those who do not cycle to work can still achieve positive physical activity through small adjustments to their daily routine, such as taking the stairs instead of the escalator, getting off the underground one stop earlier and walking the rest of the way. It doesn’t matter how you get to work, as long as your chosen commute is used more consciously for physical activity.

In the office itself, we work with ‘movement anchors’. These are recurring moments in the working day that are used for active movement. To this end, we use, for example, the before mentioned 40-15-5 rule, walk or stand during phone calls, and remind each other to keep changing position to prevent muscles and joints from stiffening. Our aim is not to add more tasks to our schedule, as the day is limited for us too and time is our most precious asset.

Our aim is to incorporate micro-movements into our established workflows and automate movement patterns to bring about a noticeable change in the long term – for the body, the mind and the team.

See you next time and wishing you all the best and stay in motion,

Simon Kratochvil and the vipur team

There are many approaches to meeting the demands of sustainable business practices. Since we have incorporated sustainability issues into our corporate culture from the very beginning, the time has come for us to start the next round – namely, to make our sustainability activities visible to ourselves and our customers.

The result is our first ‘vipur SustainabilityBooklet’ – a helpful tool that will accompany us for years to come.

Why is this booklet available?

There came a point when it became essential for us to take a break and focus on sustainability. The aim was to record and document the current situation, the status quo of vipur sustainability, for us and our customers.

So, we asked ourselves: ‘What sustainable projects have we implemented? Which implementations and core statements have already become an integral part of our company?’

We compiled all our measures and thoughts, focusing on the essential core elements, and finally wrote them up in the form of a booklet. One of the great advantages of this booklet for us is that it has created a basis that is always compactly accessible and on which we can continue to build consistently and purposefully.

The vipur SustainabilityBooklet is our personal roadmap on our path to sustainability.

What we want to achieve with it.

For us, it is primarily about visibility, because with our sustainability booklet we want to remind ourselves that sustainability in a company only works if we are prepared to:

• work consistently towards it,
• take responsibility,
• be honest with ourselves,
• make the necessary concessions,
• communicate transparently.

At the same time, we want the booklet to be a tool that encourages dialogue and the exchange of ideas, because we have all experienced:

That joint discussions often reveal new opportunities and innovative ideas that help us move forward and enable further development.

It’s about honesty.

When it comes to a better, more ecological future, communication should always be honest, because ultimately, we are all pursuing the same sustainable goals.

For me personally, it is important not to make false promises, because experience has shown that no one is ‘perfectly sustainable’. It is about creating a liveable future on this shared planet, not about winning prizes and awards in the name of sustainability and thereby maybe concealing possible shortcomings. Rather, sustainability should be part of the corporate philosophy, which is naturally supported by everyone, both internally and externally.

In every company, there are many different areas where there is great potential for more ecological and social action. It is worth discovering these areas and transforming them in an honest way.

It’s about transparency and concessions.

We want to set a good example, because we live in a world where terms such as sustainability, climate neutrality and green future, including all the respective quality seals, are appearing more and more frequently on advertising posters, products, and websites. It is becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of everything, and often we do not even know what is actually behind these seemingly ‘green formulations’.

As an SME in particular, we often find ourselves caught between legal and social demands and the reality of the situation. As a result, transparency is certainly an essential feature for the implementation of serious measures.

This often requires concessions that are probably not always easy to make, but ultimately, they make us more credible, more reflective and more capable of learning. After all, sustainability is a daily negotiation between the ideals to be achieved and what is actually feasible.

It takes courage to actively seek new solutions in a constantly changing world and to say goodbye to cherished habits.

It’s another round – and we’re learning more every day.

We are aware that sustainability is not a goal that can be achieved and then ticked off the list. It is a process that will probably accompany us for generations to come, and the responsibility for our future lies with each one of us.

For me as an entrepreneur and managing director, this means involving my employees in the topic of sustainability and thinking long-term and learning together with them – in our actions, in our decisions and in our dealings with people, nature and materials.

The vipur SustainabilityBooklet 2025 is therefore another step towards continuously identifying meaningful measures for the coming years that can be implemented in the long term and therefore become an integral part of our corporate culture. With this booklet, we are building on our vipur visions by promoting clarity and transparency and sharing the experience we have gained.

What ‘sustainability’ means to us at vipur and what we have already implemented in recent years can now be easily read about. Here you can find the current ‘vipur SustainabilityBooklet 2025’:
Download here

Many topics still lie ahead of us and there is certainly still a lot to learn. With the ‘vipur SustainabilityBooklet’, we have put ourselves in the starting blocks for the next phase and will continue to report on our progress.

See you next time.

Have a nice day,
Wolfgang Steindl-Kratochvil and the vipur team

March 2024 was a very significant month for us - we had our vipur website launch. It was an exciting moment for our team and at the same time a milestone in our vipur history, marking our journey into the digital world. We look back with joy and pride on our first year online and share with you our experiences around our vipur website and its creation.

The start: A big goal for a small team

As always - when you start a new project, the question arises:
What is the goal and how do I want to achieve it?

For me, as Managing Director of vipur, it was always clear that vipur would one day have its own website. When my wife finally came on board at the company, the two of us started the “vipur website” project in September 2023.

It quickly became clear to us – our website needed to fulfil three key requirements:

• a digital business card
• present our products and scientific support
• added value for our customers and partners

At the same time, the future vipur website should also reflect our values and our passion and bring the world of filtration closer to many people.
There was no end to the thoughts and ideas because we wanted to create something that was both easy to use and appealing.

An essential goal was therefore to:

• a special focus on a modern design
• clear structures
• simple, targeted, and reliable navigation

This optimal user experience should of course be possible on both desktop and various mobile devices. And this is where Steffi came into play, taking over the digital realisation for us and fulfilling all our website wishes.
From now on there were three of us - what a great moment!

The path: Challenges and initial successes

Together, we drew up an approximate timetable to enable us to master the challenges ahead.

First step

We took a close look at many different websites and focussed intensively on the topic of SEO, including keyword research, as our ultimate goal was to be found online. We also focussed on the topics, navigation requirements and design ideas – and a rough structure for our website quickly emerged.

Second step

Steffi was able to start with the design and programming, while my wife and I took care of the texts, images, documents, and graphics. Texts were written, revised, search engine optimised, shortened, structured, and sometimes discarded. Mountains of texts were created. We dived deeper and deeper into the inner workings of vipur in order to filter out what vipur stands for, what moves, drives and motivates us – wording and imagery were very important for this.

Third step

After the meetings, Steffi transferred all the content to the individual websites piece by piece and implemented all our requirements and ideas. She also implemented the various functions, such as an interactive contact form, a user-friendly product search, legal criteria and much more – all this took shape over time.

Fourth step

More and more contents were finalised, and the big chapter of “proofreading” became even more intensive. Spelling, punctuation, grammar, readability, navigation, design, and function were checked several times - whether on a tablet, desktop or mobile phone and no matter whether on half the screen, the entire screen, portrait or landscape format. It had to be right and consistent.
At the end of each topic block, we translated the text into English – and the game started all over again.

An incredible amount of time, but we managed it. After more than 6 months, the moment came, and we said: “Just do it. We're going online.” The most exciting moment for all of us after more than half a year of work.

The feedback: A valuable exchange

365 days after its launch, the vipur website is still making us very happy and we are constantly receiving positive feedback.

Our online presence has now become an essential part of our customer relationship. It creates trust and leaves a professional but still personal impression of our work in the field of filtration. It makes a significant contribution to a centralised exchange for all of us in the team, for our customers and partners and for everyone who is interested in vipur.

All our expectations and requirements for the website have been met and our website continues to grow.

Conclusion: A successful first year

To summarise, we can say:

Over the past year, our company website has developed into an important tool for communicating with our customers and partners. It has helped us to strengthen our brand identity, increase our visibility and create new business opportunities.
And finally, I would like to particularly mention that it was very enriching for us as a team that everyone, in their own individual way, intensively engaged with vipur and then together filtered out the core messages that were important to us.

A big thank you to everyone who has supported us in this first year – be it through their feedback, suggestions, or partnership.
We look forward to continuing to grow and improve with our website in the future.

To the next 12 months!

See you next time.

Have a nice day,
Wolfgang Steindl-Kratochvil and the vipur team

In a world that is increasingly characterised by efficiency, time pressure and the continuous search for innovation, it may seem unusual at first glance for the managing director of vipur to invest time in supervising master’s theses.

So why am I doing this? What motivates me to do it?

I would like to answer these questions today, because supervising master’s theses at a university of applied sciences can be a rewarding but also challenging task.

Promoting young talent - an investment in the future

For many years, I have been supporting the FH-Campus Vienna Bioengineering Department and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (BOKU) with my filtration expertise and filtration products and have been available to advise professors and students with my specialist knowledge. Some time ago, I was asked by the University of Applied Sciences whether I would like to pass on my knowledge and experience from the world of filtration to students as part of the Bioengineering Master's programme. And so, it came about that I have been teaching at the FH Campus Vienna for two years now and I am also happy to supervise master’s theses.

One of the most important reasons why I do this is my general conviction that supporting students and the associated transfer of knowledge is essential for the future of our society. Another important factor is that, as the managing director of a company, I know how important it is,

• to promote young talent,
• to give them the opportunity to develop their skills and ideas in a practical environment,
• to ensure continuous progress in the filtration industry.

Therefore, we at vipur are highly committed to maintaining and expanding the pharmaceutical and biotechnology centre of Vienna and Austria and are very happy to work together with technical colleges and universities.

Because this results in a:

Knowledge transfer between theory and practice

In contrast to purely academic universities, universities of applied sciences place a stronger focus on practice-orientated training. Master's theses at “FH´s” are therefore often closely linked to real-life professional issues. Many students therefore decide to write their thesis in collaboration with companies or organisations - and that's where we come in.

As Managing Director of vipur, I am constantly involved in what is known as “practice”. The challenges and requirements of day-to-day business in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors are demanding and varied, and I am still learning from all the new developments. It is precisely this experience from business and research that provides valuable insights and opens new perspectives on current challenges.

By supervising master’s theses, I enable students to combine their theoretical concepts with the real requirements of pharmaceutical and biotechnology. I am happy to give you specific tips on topics that are currently or will be of great interest in the future. At the same time, I am available to listen and advise them and provide insights into how they can organise their work more efficiently.

Because I know only too well how important a sympathetic ear and tips can be:

Being a role model as a father

As a father of two sons myself, I see it as particularly important to give future generations tools for their professional careers and, above all, the confidence that their ideas and approaches are important. This aspect not only promotes a healthy work culture but also contributes to everyone's personal development.

It is important to me to convey to students that success is not only determined by academic achievements or career stages, but also by the way in which graduates perceive and shape their impact on society and the environment.

Conclusion: A gift to myself and the next generation

To summarise, supervising master’s theses is doubly enriching for me. It is not only an opportunity to impart and promote knowledge, but also an opportunity to grow myself and exchange ideas with the next generation. As a managing director, I benefit from the innovative ideas of the students, and as a father, I pass on to my own children and society a piece of what is important to me:

Taking responsibility, living values, realising visions and the tireless will to keep learning, and growing.

See you next time.

Have a nice day,
Wolfgang Steindl-Kratochvil and the vipur team

Christmas and wishes - two concepts that have gone hand in hand since childhood. Many of us have written as a child a letter to Christ Child or Santa Claus with all our heartfelt wishes. It is precisely these fond memories that characterise the festive season even many years later, because this mixture of inner warmth and joy is still deep within us today and is desirable to achieve on Christmas Eve.
But what about all the wishes surrounding Christmas? Are wishes subject to change and should they perhaps be updated from time to time? Do we wish for something different at Christmas?

Christmas Wishes - a separate criterion.

It can be observed that wishes are definitely more important around Christmas than usual. They even become the focus of the Christmas ritual of “giving and receiving gifts” and “fulfilling wishes”.
If you walk through Vienna in November and December, you will pass many Advent markets, the streets are festively illuminated, and the lavishly decorated shop windows tempt you with their offers. A paradise for realising all the wishes you think you have or need to fulfil. It can therefore happen that the word “gift” triggers consumer pressure in many people or perhaps even leads to a spending spree.

Because the truth is that wishes are not that simple. They are versatile, easily manipulated and change - but ultimately, they should fit and please. However, desires are subject to many influences, trends, personal needs and dreams and are therefore very flexible and universal. What was important to us a few months or years ago can suddenly be completely different before Christmas.

And that leads to the next pre-Christmas event:

Shopping, shopping, shopping - but is it still allowed?

Our vipur office is located directly on Mariahilfer Straße - THE shopping street in Vienna, where it feels like every Viennese and every tourist buys at least one present for Christmas. However, our consumption of goods has rightly been scrutinised more and more in recent years. Online shopping, sustainability (unfortunately often used as a marketing strategy) and the ever-widening gap between rich and poor often spoil the shopping experience.
The joy of Christmas could actually be dwindling now, because we know that presents are often exchanged after Christmas, it is difficult to save the climate on our own, poverty unfortunately cannot be eradicated and people often spend a long time searching for gifts in shops, so online shopping is sometimes more convenient.

But honestly, wishes aren't everything and without Christmas we would all miss something!

What is Christmas all about?

It is worthwhile for everyone to consciously celebrate this festival and to pass on, give away and focus on the joy and warmth that we hopefully experienced as children. After all, Christmas is a special time when we should remember how important it is to be there for each other and to connect with others.
Everyone around the world knows the song “Silent Night, Holy Night” - and it is in fact a small miracle that this folk song from Austria has conquered the whole world - without Spotify & Co - and for one night a year this melody connects many people worldwide. Marvellous!

Christmas, wishes and presents should not put pressure on anyone. The important thing is to feel good, just like you did as a child when you were designing and writing a letter to Santa Claus or singing “Silent Night”.

Achieving an inner sense of well-being can be quite simple - we at vipur do it this way, for example, and are happy to pass this on as inspiration:

• As we all know, warmth comes from within and it's just as well that there are plenty of places in the city where you can enjoy a cup of mulled wine or punch together. We like to choose the Christmas markets with our family where you can consume for a charitable cause. Because every little bit of support can help to improve the lives of people in need.

• And while we're on the subject of “people in need’” there are many organisations that appeal for support with innovative ideas, especially around Christmas time. In our 6th district, for example, there is “die Gruft’” a contact point for homeless people in Vienna, which is grateful every year for donations of winter clothing or sleeping bags - we are also happy to drop something off or donate toys to Caritas.

• And for family and friends: An extended games evening with your own children or friends is always fun. Christmas biscuits are an absolute must during Advent and make an excellent little gift. Baking them yourself using grandma's recipes is always a success and can be fun together.

• And very, very important - hug your loved ones!

And finally:

Our vipur wish:

Our vipur wish for ourselves and our entire team and everyone who wants it:

Rejoice, celebrate the festive season and pass on this warmth in your hearts!

See you next time in the new year.

We wish you a wonderful Advent season and a Merry Christmas,
the vipur team and Wolfgang Steindl-Kratochvil

We all realise that sustainability is becoming more and more of an issue. Hardly a day goes by without coming into contact with it or being reminded that sustainability is not just a trend, but also a necessity. This fact also applies to small and medium-sized companies, which are often considered the backbone of the economy.

But how easy is it to change your own thinking and actions in such a way that you can actually see and measure efficient economic, ecological and social success in the years to come? This question is increasingly taking centre stage for us, because we are convinced of it:

Sustainability concerns us all!

There are already many processes and habits that we have changed in some areas of our lives, giving us the feeling that we are acting in a more environmentally friendly and socially responsible way. However, these steps are still far from sufficient to see long-term results worldwide and make them tangible for everyone.

This raises an important question::

What can I do as an entrepreneur to ensure that sustainability is not just a charming façade on the outside?

One thing is certain for us at vipur:

Sustainability must be firmly anchored in our consciousness.

Ever since we first started thinking about the vipur website more than a year ago, it was obvious to us that sustainability should become a central and lived topic at vipur. Some important points had already been implemented at this time, with a particular focus on the social working environment in the office - such as ergonomic workstations for all our employees, bright green office spaces, everyone is welcome in the office with their bike and much more.

But our implementation and ideas continue, as there are still many opportunities that we want to utilise and realise, such as:

• Specifying ecological and social factors against which we want to measure ourselves year after year in this area is our goal.
• Regularly exchanging information with companies from our network on how they establish sustainability in their daily processes.

All of this from the perspective of European and International Requirements, which will become more and more specific in the coming years.

Sustainability needs structure and positive motivation.

The WKO's (Austrian Economic Chambers) Sustainability Week came at the perfect time for us to bring structure into our vipur sustainability thinking. Taking part in various events followed by networking last week was very intensive for us and a complete success in every respect.

One important sentence that we were able to take away with us in terms of the pace of sustainability implementation is the following tip from the WKO - ‘less is more’! After all, it is important not to lose sight of the big picture and therefore not to lose motivation for this absolutely vital topic. After all, the series of lectures organised by the Vienna Chamber of Commerce has shown us that there is still a great deal to be done in terms of local and/or European legislation for SMEs.

We will all have to invest a lot of time and money in order to fulfil our personal requirements, the legal requirements and ultimately the requirements of our customers. But that shouldn't put us off - we have to see it as an opportunity to achieve economic, ecological and social goals in a more defined way.

At the moment, we are all still in a development process and sharing our experiences and insights is important. We are therefore very happy to pass on additional thoughts and tips that we have received from the WKO:

• Approach the topic - the earlier the better
• Raise awareness of the need for sustainable behaviour throughout the company.
• Work on this patiently and constantly to the best of your knowledge and belief.
• Recognise and implement the benefits of the data collected and accept this challenge as an opportunity for your own company.
• Obtain professional support if required

Our wish from vipur

At some point, sustainability will be an integral part of every company, and we will no longer even think about how we need to align our strategies and measures to ensure that our goals are sustainable. Sustainability is an investment in the future that can help SMEs compete and grow successfully in an increasingly environmentally conscious market.

May we all move forward on the path of sustainability.

See you next time.

Have a nice day,
the vipur team and Wolfgang Steindl-Kratochvil

August is approaching and summer will soon be at its peak. Some are already back from their holidays, some still have them ahead of them and some are perhaps still undecided and sitting in the office or working from home. Images of crystal-clear lakes, high mountains, alpine meadows or beautiful beaches and crashing sea waves can spring to mind - but what does summer look like in Vienna?
How do we spend our summer at vipur and how do we bring a little holiday flair into our office?

If you can easily find a parking space in Vienna, then that can only mean one thing - it's the summer holidays. So, the question arises:

How can you catch a little holiday vibe in Vienna?

If you are looking to cool off on a hot summer's day, as a Viennese you immediately think of the Vienna Woods, the green Prater, the Lobau, the Old Danube or the Danube Island, as all these places are within easy reach and an ideal recreational area. But what does it look like in the centre of Vienna?

Anyone who knows us at vipur a little better knows that it is very important for all of us to make our working environment as pleasant as possible. As you can see from our blog picture, we are very lucky to have a view of a beautiful green courtyard with a fountain. There are no ocean waves to be heard on Mariahilfer Straße, but a calming ripple and a cool breeze always reach us in the office. Actually, August in Vienna isn't even that unpleasant, because the city empties out a little and there's a very special magic in the air, especially in the early hours of the morning. If you stroll through the side streets of Vienna in the morning or - like me - cycle across the Prater and the city to the office, you can catch a little peace and quiet. This is the perfect time to sort out your thoughts and ‘filter’ them if necessary.

You should also consider switching to holiday mode a little - treating yourself to a few little moments of happiness.

Where do we get a few moments of happiness during work?

Our office is right in the centre of Vienna and there is a lot to discover in our immediate surroundings that always reminds us of our own private holidays.

If you fancy a little holiday flair from Italy or France - join us on a little excursion around the ‘MAhü’ - as the Viennese like to say:

Italy, for example, is just round the corner from us. For lunch, take a short walk downhill to the pizzeria ‘Disco Volante’ on the corner of Gumpendorfer Straße and Stumpergasse. All the pizzas are brilliant, the staff are always friendly - an ideal place to savour Italian cuisine. Our personal recommendation is to enjoy the Alici pizza with a chilled chinotto. Afterwards, we like to go for a quick espresso on our way back to the ‘Kaffeefabrik’, whose advice and selection of coffees are simply top-notch.

And what would Italy be without its olive oil or the delicious lemons from the Amalfi Coast region? We also have a tip for you: we love salty lemons, which can flavour any dish. That's why we like to make a detour to ‘Casa Caria’ on our way to the post office in Lindengasse or Schottenfeldgasse. Just entering the shop makes you feel like you've landed in the south of Italy.

Our insider tip for breakfast is ‘LÁmour du pain’ in Otto-Bauer-Gasse. Everything here is of authentic French quality. From croissants and the like that we love to baguettes that we rarely find in Vienna - best of all, simply enjoy them with butter, salt and pepper and a glass of fresh Viennese water. Ideally, this French variety is available from 07:00.

On my way home, I like to cycle past ‘Joseph’ and take a Joseph bread home with me. Why Joseph? Because it simply tastes like bread and doesn't lose its quality for days. Anyone who has older children knows that you often can't tell who is at home or has gone out in the evening. A loaf of bread can be eaten in an hour or sit in the kitchen for days - but no matter when, this bread simply always tastes good - genuine and honest.

Finally, a cooling ice cream is a must in summer - whether quickly at ‘Bortolotti’ diagonally opposite us on Mariahilfer Straße or at ‘Eis Greisslerei’ in Neubaugasse. A good ice cream on a hot summer's day is always a good idea. That's why we get an ice-cream box for our office, and nothing stands in the way of an affogato in the afternoon.

With this in mind, we wish everyone a great summer!

And here are more details about our vipur tips:

https://www.kaffeefabrik.at/

https://www.disco-volante.at/

https://www.shop.casacaria.com/

https://www.citrusvienna.com/

https://www.lamourdupain.at/

https://www.joseph.co.at/de/standorte-kontakt

https://www.bortolotti.at/

https://www.eis-greissler.at/

See you next time - we look forward to further filtration.

Have a cool summertime,
the vipur team and Wolfgang Steindl-Kratochvil

What do you need to know about Depth Filters and Membrane Filters?

Functionality of Depth Filter and Membrane Filter

• is fundamentally different
• accordingly, an application-specific use must always be evaluated

Depth Filter

In this article, we refer to depth filters whose main component is cellulose and not polypropylene or glass fibre.
They have a filter thickness of approx. 4mm as a single-layer version or 8mm in the double-layer version.
In the laboratory, they are initially tested with 47mm discs until they are finally used in production in 16" modules/capsule design or as filter sheets with up to 1200x1200mm.

The main advantage of this product:

• large inner surface area
• high dirt holding capacity
• if necessary, available loading capacity

The manufacturers of such depth filter media have the appropriate products in their portfolio for different pharmaceutical processes.

It is by no means easy to compare different manufacturers due to the undefined absolute retention. Tests with a downstream membrane provide information on the performance of the product. If this is not possible, filtration parameters should be used to compare different products.

We at vipur are happy to support you with our decades of expertise and filtration equipment in this area.

Membrane Filter

Membrane filters, on the other hand, are so-called surface filters with almost no dirt holding capacity, i.e. they block up quickly under load.

The main advantage of this product:

• regulatory retention definition in relation to defined germs
• can be tested for integrity using a filter test device

The scalability of membrane filters is very large for almost all suppliers and ranges from 25mm syringe filters to 30" filter elements/capsules.
The most common membrane materials are PES (polyethersulfone), PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride) or PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene).
It is very easy to compare different manufacturers due to the defined retention. The most common test method used here is the so-called Vmax test.

What Depth Filters and Membrane Filters teach us

Depth filters have a very high dirt holding capacity and should protect the downstream system as well as possible when used as a pre-filter.

Membrane filters are pure surface filters and can therefore only be used for the filtration of media that have already been treated accordingly. Their retention rate correlates with the bacterial load. They can be checked for integrity using a filter test device.

Would you like to know more? We will be happy to provide you with detailed information on the subject of "Depth Filter versus Membrane Filter" for download on our website.

See you next time - we look forward to further filtration.

Have a nice day,
the vipur Team

Hydrophilic versus Hydrophobic Membrane

You want to filter something with a membrane - but don't quite know which membrane you should use to achieve the desired results? In addition, each membrane has its own special properties, hence our tip for you:

The first important question is:

What do you need to filter - liquid or gas media? 

There are two main types of membrane:

• hydrophilic membranes → filtration of liquid substances

• hydrophobic membranes → filtration of gas substances

What is there to say about them in brief?

Hydrophilic membranes

Hydrophilic membranes are “more or less easily” permeable to water and, as already mentioned, are therefore used for liquid filtration.
Their structure usually differs depending on the material. The most common at present are: 

• Polyethersulfone membranes (PES)
• Polyvinylidene fluoride membranes (PVDF)

Depending on the pore size, they are used for bioburden reduction through to virus filtration.

Hydrophobic membranes

Hydrophobic membranes are generally impermeable to water. As a rule, because there are of course various exceptions here too. Normally, PTFE membrane filters are mainly used for sterile gas filtration.

• Polytetrafluoroethylene membranes (PTFE)
  
  They are characterized by high strength and high chemical compatibility. In practice, this means that PTFE membrane filters can be used for three-digit steam sterilization cycles with up to 145°C/30min in the direction of flow and against the direction of flow. By reducing the surface tension, these membranes become hydrophilic and can be used, for example, for the sterile filtration of aggressive liquids.

Here is an important note:

Please note that wetting of the hydrophobic membrane with liquid must be prevented.

What are the most common sources of error/possible problems?

Since many PTFE sterile air filters are used for fermenter supply and exhaust air, the formation of condensate and/or foaming of the fermentation medium is a given. 

Possible solutions:

• In the event of condensate formation (= wetting of the hydrophobic PTFE membrane with liquid), the use of a filter housing heater is a relatively simple solution. 
• If the fermenter frequently foams over, causing the hydrophobic PTFE membrane to block, a polypropylene pre-filter may be a solution. 

Another membrane type would be hydrophobic PVDF. However, this is only used peripherally due to the limited supply and, above all, the lower air flow rates.

Hydrophilic or hydrophobic membranes - the difference is as simple as that, but there are certain points to consider when using them.

We are happy to provide you with this information for download on our website.

See you next time - we look forward to further filtration.

Have a nice day,
the vipur Team

16" Depth Filter Capsules

Our blog picture shows three different 16" Single-Use depth filter capsules. We would like to focus on these in our first product article - with a few emotions and not with a simple table comparison of the advantages and disadvantages.

16" capsules are one of our favorite topics, as their introduction led to significant changes in the production sector and there is still an emotional debate about their use.

We can draw on two pillars of our history in this area:

• more than 15 years of experience with 16" Single-Use systems
• more than 20 years of experience in handling 16" filter elements

Why are there actually Single-Use Capsules?

First of all, it's all about concentration, precision, effort and work safety when fitting 16" modules.

There is probably nothing more impressive for a filtration officer in the area of "mass movement in production" than lifting a 70kg 16" stainless steel filter dome using a hoist. A 4-fold high 16" filter housing must then be fitted with modules via a central guide rod more than 1m high. The filter dome must then be lowered back down over the modules using a hoist and the dome securely closed at the bottom of the housing. It is more physically challenging to lift a 2-fold high 16" stainless steel filter dome over 16" modules without a cable pull and without damaging the modules at the edges. We have often experienced both and it is still impressive for us to see how many kilograms of stainless steel are moved in everyday production.

Due to our history, we have very often equipped pilot and production holders with capsules - especially on a pilot scale. We can therefore say that the Single-Use system has clear advantages in terms of handling and occupational safety. There is another benefit worth mentioning, namely the elimination of cleaning validation. I will never forget the statement from our engineering manager, who said: "The two points that are primarily checked externally are the management of change controls and cleaning validation." As we all know, these two areas are the most challenging in any process.

Further general advantages:

• In comparison with flat-sealed modules, the uncertainty of fixing by means of a locking screw is eliminated.
• Elimination of special solutions for draining residue from the bottom of the module housing with stainless steel housings.
• Easier handling compared to 16" filter housings, especially if these are also designed with multiple places.
• Quick and safe assembly of the capsules in a production holder.

As there are no advantages without disadvantages, we will also list these:

• The 1:1 cost comparison of a 16" capsule to a 16" module with the same surface area.
• The mass of polypropylene that is discarded after a single use.

vipur hat mit ErtelAlsop MicroCap Pro eine 16“-Capsulenbaureihe zur Verfügung, in welcher die Tiefenfilterbaureihen Micromedia® XL, DXL, PXL und MicroClear® Aktivkohle je nach Kundenanforderung eingebaut werden können. Aufgrund des inneren Aufbaus der Capsulen sind sowohl ein- als auch doppellagige Tiefenfiltermedien einsetzbar. Die Capsule hat zwei gegenüberliegende Griffe und kann leicht per Hand in den jeweiligen Halter positioniert werden.

What we particularly like about the system:

• With the smallest pilot holder, no manifolds are required on the up/downstream side when using just one depth filter capsule.
  → This not only saves costs, but also conserves resources.
• 2" in-/outlets of the manifolds ensure low differential pressures due to the large inner diameter.
• 16" capsules with activated carbon layers are available.
• MicroCap Pro sind zur Aufnahme in Mitbewerbshalter geeignet.
• Die Bestückung und Entnahme der MicroCap Pro Capsulen erfolgt horizontal und somit mit geringstem körperlichem Einsatz.
• MicroCap Pro Capsulen sind in drei unterschiedlichen Capsulenbauformen (0,66m²/ 1,09m²/1,53m²) verfügbar.

If you have any further questions or suggestions regarding 16" Single-Use depth filter capsules, we look forward to receiving your feedback. www.vipur.at

Have a nice day,
the vipur team and Wolfgang Steindl-Kratochvil