Does the Buchner funnel have a better alternative with less loss?

[Biochemgirl2002]

the Buchner funnel is used often in the lab, but i was wondering if there was a great enough transfer loss in the filter paper to switch to an alternate funnel for filtering by suction. I've looked into sintered glass funnels but i don't know if it would have the same transfer loss since the substance could get sucked through the holes as well.

 

[TeethWhitener]

Sintered glass funnels come with different pore sizes (usually listed as fine, medium, coarse, or some variation thereof). They work about as well as a Buchner funnel with a piece of filter paper, but they're a bit more convenient in that you don't have to go begging for filter paper when you run out. That said, the Buchner funnel is usually fine as long as 1) you're crashing out decent sized crystals, and 2) you do the filtration slowly. You can always refilter if stuff pulls through.

 

[KevinMcHugh]

Consider cost. Buchner and paper are cheap, sintered glass is expensive.

 

[chemisttree]

It would depend on your application. Small samples can suffer serious losses when using large filters. The filters I have used with the smallest losses is micropore PTFE filters but they aren’t the best for all applications.

 

[epenguin]

Consider cost. Buchner and paper are cheap, sintered glass is expensive.

and isn't it more difficult to clean, and to know when you have sufficiently cleaned of stuff stuck in the glass afterwards?