Ultrafiltration (UF) is a variety of membrane filtration in which hydrostatic pressure forces a liquid against a semipermeable membrane. Suspended solids and solutes of high molecular weight are retained, while water and low molecular weight solutes pass through the membrane. This separation process is used in industry and research for purifying and concentrating macromolecular (10^3 - 10^6 Da) solutions, especially protein solutions. Ultrafiltration is not fundamentally different from reverse osmosis, microfiltration or nanofiltration, except in terms of the size of the molecules it retains.
Industries such as chemical and pharmaceutical processing, food and beverage processing, and waste water treatment, employ UF in order to recycle flow or add value to later products. UF's main attraction is its ability to purify, separate, and concentrate target macromolecules in continuous systems. UF does this by pressurizing the solution flow, which is tangential to the surface of the supported membrane (cross-flow filtration). The solvent and other dissolved components that pass through the membrane are known as permeate. The components that do not pass through are known as retentate. Depending on the Molecular Weight Cut Off (MWCO) of the membrane used, macromolecules may be purified, separated, or concentrated in either fraction. Currently, the study of UF processing occurs mainly in laboratory setups because it is very prone to membrane fouling caused by increased solute concentration at the membrane surface (either by macromolecular adsorption to internal pore structure of membrane, or aggregation of protein deposit on surface of membrane), which leads to concentration polarization (CP). CP is the major culprit in decreasing permeate flux.

UF is a low pressure (5 - 150 psig) process for separating larger size solutes from aqueous solutions by means of a semi-permeable membrane.

Retains oils, particulate matter, bacteria and suspended solids large macromolecules and proteins