Using the PhysioEx.9.1 software, I ran Activity 4: Simulating Filtration lab to learn about the filtration of solutes in a membrane system. This experiment was conducted using four solutes: NaCl, urea, glucose, and powdered charcoal. The goal was to learn if any of these solutes passed through the three different dialysis membranes at varying pressures. Does increasing the pore size increase filtration rate? What effect will pressure have on the filtration rate? These are the questions I hoped to solve using the methods in the simulation. At the end of the experiment, I found that increasing the pressure and the MWCO increased filtration rate practically two-fold. Out of all the solutes, powered charcoal had the highest molecular …show more content…
Overall, as the membrane’s MWCO increased, the filtration rate increased. All the solutes filtered were too large to pass through the 20 MWCO filter. The NaCl was able to pass through the rest of the membranes with the same filter concentration (4.81). The Urea & Glucose were unable to pass through the 50 MWCO filter, but was able to pass thru the 200 MWCO at both pressure differences. The powered charcoal was unable to pass through any of the filters even when the pressure was doubled. The residue analysis indicated all solutes present in the dialysis …show more content…
However the powdered charcoal was unable to pass through any of the membranes, so I concluded the powered charcoal had the highest molecular weight. NaCl had a lower molecular weight that urea and glucose because it was the only one able to pass through the 50 MWCO membrane. In reviewing my hypothesis, I was correct. Increasing the pore size increased filtration rate. Increasing the pressure also increased filtration rate. When the pressure was doubled in run 4, the filter rate also doubled. The membrane’s molecular weight cut off also affected the rate of filtration. As the membrane’s MWCO increased from 20 to 200, the rate of filtration also increased. After each run the membrane residue analyzer was used. It detected solute residue at every