ASME BPE Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Equipment

What is ASME BPE?

(The American Society of Mechanical Engineers - Bioprocessing Equipment)

The pharmaceutical industry as well as components of a distribution system or conveyor belts, have an established guideline for their surface finish requirements called ASME-BPE.

ASME-BPE is the leading Standard on how to design and build equipment and systems used in the production of biopharmaceuticals, which includes bioprocessing, pharmaceutical and personal-care products. The standards incorporate current best-practices for enhancing product purity and safety and maintain the high levels of hygienic requirements of the materials used as well as their design, fabrication, and plating methods. Harrison Electropolishing has long supported efforts by ASME, and other organizations, to standardize the expectations and designations of acceptable surface finishes. Tom Harrison, our company president, is a member of ASME and is currently part of the surface finish subcommittee for ASME BPE. Learn more about electropolishing

Electropolishing Within ASME BPE Standards

This electropolishing specification includes seven surface finishes that may be used when specifying surface finishes. The following table summarizes the information provided within ASME BPE for surface finishes of bioprocessing equipment and distribution system components.

ASME BPE and all other specification are found in our Industry Standards.

Ra Readings for Surfaces
Mechanically Polished
Surface
Designation
Ra Max
µ-in µm
SF0 No Ra Requirement No Ra Requirement
SF1 20 0.51
SF2 25 0.64
SF3 30 0.76
Mechanically Polished & Electropolished
Mechanically Polished
Surface
Designation
Ra Max
µ-in µm
SF4 15 0.38
SF5 20 0.51
SF6 25 0.64

Further acceptance criteria for product contact surfaces is detailed within ASME BPE.

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