High Purity BPE Stainless Steel Tubing

What is BPE? The short answer is that BPE stands for bioprocessing equipment. The longer answer is that it’s the body of standards for bioprocessing equipment developed by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), composed of volunteer professionals worldwide in 36 technical sub-fields. BPE establishes standards for the design of equipment used in bioprocessing, pharmaceutical and personal-care products, and other industries with strict hygienic requirements. The original BPE didn’t include many quality procedures for orbital weld heads – but the ones now in place mean the quality of welds has improved substantially in the past few decades. It covers system design, materials, fabrication, inspections, cleaning and sanitization, testing, and certification.

Since their initial release in 1997, the ASME BPE standards have become the standard in the biopharmaceutical industry. The standard designates 6 different acceptable surface finishes, the most common SF1 (maximum 20 Ra) and SF4 (maximum 15Ra+ electropolish). It also designates other acceptance criteria for surface finishes.

Zhongrui has supplied stainless steel tubing to the pharmaceutical industry for several years, providing meets or exceeds the strict materials and production requirements of pharmaceutical and biotechnology environments.

To ensure the highest surface quality, our sanitary tubing goes beyond the requirements of ASTM A269 and A270 by performing the full battery of ASTM bend and deformation tests required by ASME SA249. The tests, combined with specific raw material requirements, Eddy Current testing at the tube mill, 100% borescoping prior to mechanical polish, and tighter OD and wall tolerances, allows for a more consistent, superior quality product. We also perform flare, flatten, flange, and reverse bend tests in accordance with ASME SA249.