Asahi Kasei unveils benchtop VANTIJ SU-VFC virus filtration system

Asahi Kasei Bioprocess has announced the VANTIJ SU-VFC Benchtop, a benchtop system that runs single-use virus filtration automatically. It is the first benchtop-scale model in the company's VANTIJ family. Asahi Kasei showed it at BioProcess International East 2026 in Boston, held September 22 to 25.

At manufacturing scale, virus filtration already runs on automated equipment. In process development and small-batch production, more of the work is done by hand. The SU-VFC Benchtop brings automation and a single-use flow path down to that scale. It takes the company's Planova 35N virus removal filters with membrane areas of 0.12 m² and 0.3 m², covering lab scale through process development.

Much of the design is about setup. Assembly follows a shadow board that shows where each part goes. Tube sets mount without tools, and connection points sit where the operator can see them. The run itself is driven by recipes, so the procedure lives in the instrument rather than in the operator's head.

That matters because of where virus filtration sits. It usually comes near the end of purification, and a mistake at that stage cannot be undone. A setup that keeps operator differences from showing up in results pays off most at sites where staff change often.

Asahi Kasei is aiming the system first at gene therapy manufacturing. Gene therapy programs have long manufacturing timelines, heavy regulatory requirements and long operator training. Conditions also tend to differ from one product to the next, so fixing the procedure in the equipment takes load off the people running it.

A smaller instrument does not change the basics of choosing a virus filter. The size of the target virus, how the membrane integrity test is set up, and how the filter copes with the impurity load from upstream steps still decide the choice.