Solvay’s KetaSpire® PEEK plays key role in vaccine production

Malema Sensors® chooses KetaSpire® resins for single-use Coriolis flow meters due to exceptional physical properties that optimize accuracy and cleanliness.

Alpharetta, Ga., October 8th, 2021 - Solvay’s medical-grade KetaSpire^® polyetheretherketone (PEEK) resins were selected by Malema Sensors^® to produce its SumoFlo^® single-use Coriolis flow meters, which are critical for vaccine production. 

After evaluating multiple competitive PEEK grades, Malema chose Solvay’s high-performance resins due to their exceptional physical properties, including a very high Young’s modulus, which helps ensure sensor accuracy and plastic integrity under constant exposure to oscillation. Solvay KetaSpire^® resin grades meet USP Class VI requirements, withstand gamma sterilization and ensure extremely low leachables and extractables for high cleanliness. 

The gamma-sterilizable flow meters have enabled biopharmaceutical companies to accelerate mass production of COVID-19 vaccines. As the world's only maker of Coriolis flowmeters with an all-plastic wetted path, Malema Sensors^® supplied leading manufacturers with process skids used in the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed. 

“The transition from stainless-steel bioprocessing infrastructure to single-use components underscores the growing importance of high-performance thermoplastics to the healthcare industry,” said Anna Maria Bertasa, healthcare global marketing manager for Solvay Specialty Polymers. “Our KetaSpire^® PEEK products meet the stringent requirements of Malema’s Coriolis flow meters, helping the company to stand out from competitors, and support industry initiatives such as the rapid scale-up of vaccine manufacturing”. 

Malema Sensors^® specifies and provides its molders and extruders with KetaSpire^® PEEK resins to produce the wetted path components of the SumoFlo^® Coriolis flow meter, which is the first and only PEEK single-use flow meter for the life sciences industry. It is also by far the most accurate and repeatable flow meter for single use applications, providing a huge boost to critical biopharma processes such as tangential flow filtration, depth filtration and chromatography. 

“The single-use paradigm revolutionized pharmaceutical production by avoiding contamination and boosting throughput and capacity, as demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dan Malani, chairman of the board of Malema Sensors. “Our single-use Coriolis flow meters, which measure mass and volumetric flow, temperature and density, are known for their high levels of accuracy. A key reason for this is our use of Solvay materials. Solvay has collaborated with us from day one of our four-year initiative to develop the industry’s only all-PEEK Coriolis flow meter.”

® KetaSpire is a registered trademark of Solvay
® SumoFlo is a registered trademark of Malema Sensors^®

About Solvay 

Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 23,000 employees in 64 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet plan crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities and delivered net sales of €9 billion in 2020. Solvay is listed on Euronext Brussels (SOLB) and Paris. Learn more at www.solvay.com.
 

About Malema Sensors^®

Malema is a world-class manufacturer of high precision Flow Measurement and Control Solutions for the Life Sciences, Semiconductor and other Industries. Malema is ISO 9001 certified and has direct manufacturing, customer service and/or research facilities in the United States, Singapore, India, South Korea and Japan. Additional information can be found at www.malema.com.

Solvay’s medical-grade KetaSpire^® polyetheretherketone (PEEK) resins were selected by Malema Sensors® to produce wetted path components for its SumoFlo^® single-use Coriolis flow meters. Photo courtesy of Solvay.