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What utilities will make my laboratory more efficient?

Announcement posted by John Morris Group 21 Mar 2016

Vacuum, water and gas utilities will improve your lab environment efficiency.

Laboratories are intricate and costly when compared to residential and industrial building. The main aim to constructing a functional lab is to facilitate valuable research results. At the centre of a lab is the research underway, therefore lab owners can’t compromise research efforts by neglecting key aspects such as safety, comfort and sustainability. Some of the most important enhancements to these aspects are in the utilities used within the lab environment. From lab vacuum to water to gas, utilities are at the heart of successful research and a successful laboratory set-up.

Lab vacuum
One of the most notable trends in laboratory vacuum technology is the movement away from central vacuum supply in new science buildings. This is consistent with owners’ objectives to have facilities that are adaptable as science changes, as budgets rise and fall and programs respond.

“Central building utilities that can’t adapt to changing needs limit the economic lifetime of the building and hamper the science, or accelerate the need for substantial renovation investments,” says Peter Coffey, VP of marketing,Vacuubrand, Essex, Conn.

Another factor driving the move away from central vacuum utilities is the movement toward multidisciplinary science buildings, both for academic institutions and for “problem-focused” research. “Since the vacuum needed by the various scientific disciplines varies greatly, and dry laboratories are becoming increasingly important, one-size-fits-all vacuum seems less appropriate,” says Coffey. This trend is also evident in other modular utilities like point-of-use ultrapure water systems and ductless fume hoods.

Researchers are also continuing to move away from water aspirators and oil-sealed rotary vane pumps due to environmental impacts, maintenance concerns and cost of ownership. With a focus on sustainability in lab environments, more researchers are looking for environmentally friendly products that are reliable and can be used for a wide range of applications. “Oil-free vacuum pumps don’t require water or oil for normal operation, nor do they create contaminated waste that must be properly disposed,” says Roland Anderson, laboratory products manager, KNF Neuberger, Trenton, N.J.

As science evolves, so does actual laboratory vacuum technology. Many enhancements have been made to this technology over the past three years, but none is as important as control and automation of lab vacuum processes. From pumping units that automatically respond to demand for vacuum, to systems that can automate evaporative processes, automation saves researchers time, protects samples, reduces wear on pumps and reduces energy use.

“With budgets tight in both academic and industrial research, process automation in labs frees up the most precious resource in the lab— the attention and creativity of the researcher,” says Coffey. The result: Both greater productivity and more satisfying work for the scientist.

Vacuum pump with control through a tablet computer. Photo credit: Vacuubrand
Vacuum pump with control through a tablet computer. Photo credit: Vacuubrand

Another development noted by lab vacuum vendors is the development of wireless systems for monitoring and controlling vacuum applications. Some laboratory vacuum technology introduced in recent years permits scientists to work at their desks, while monitoring a rotary evaporator remotely on their computer monitors or wireless devices.

Remote control operation of lab equipment not only frees researcher’s time, but also allows for added safety and energy-efficiency benefits. “The development of remote control technology has enabled the control of vacuum applications from outside a closed fume hood,” says Anderson. “This gives researchers total control over their vacuum application, while enjoying the benefits of energy savings and increased safety.”

 While many enhancements have already been made to laboratory vacuum technology, there’s always room for technology improvements. And, according to Coffey, there are immediate opportunities available to scientists by adopting technologies developed over recent decades.

In laboratory environments, many vendors often see oil-sealed rotary vane pumps, which are designed for relatively deep vacuum applications, used for filtration operations. However, oil-free pumps that provide more appropriate vacuum levels offer reduced maintenance and smaller footprints.

According to Coffey, “We still see water-jet aspirators in labs, with each one wasting tens of thousands of litres of water annually when a small vacuum pump could save enough water to pay for itself in a year or two. We also see scientists who have worked for years to earn a PhD functioning as ‘machine operators’ when automation could free them to use their training and intellect creatively.” Scientists who undervalue their own time when considering equipment purchases ultimately compromise their budgets and their science.

Laboratory environments also want smaller, quieter and more powerful vacuum technologies. Developing pumps that can handle liquids and gasses over a broad temperature range and have the ability to tailor their performance to a specific application is an enhancement Anderson is noting with KNF’s customers.“Customers are continuously looking for smaller pumps with deeper end vacuums, greater chemical compatibility and quieter operation,” says Anderson. “We must continue to improve upon our product offerings to meet the demands of a changing lab landscape.”

In future laboratory environments, lab vacuum will continue to be an essential utility in wet labs, even as dry labs that rely on computers for simulations or data analysis develop increasing importance. “Limited research budgets and cost pressures in academia will drive decision-making toward the process optimising advantages of automation and to careful attention to the most appropriate vacuum technology for a scientific operation,” says Coffey.

The trend away from central vacuum supplies in new and renovated science buildings will place a premium on space-efficient, adaptable options for in-lab supply of vacuum, as well as systems that operate quietly enough to be a good neighbor in the lab.

Many lab environments are also seeking to incorporate vacuum pumps into other pieces of equipment to provide a more complete laboratory instrument and offer control over the entire process. As researchers move away from house vacuum systems and try to select pumps that fit their specific needs, Anderson sees a growing trend to incorporate vacuum pumps into other devices to create a complete free-standing system.

Laboratory water
Like vacuum technology, lab water is also indispensable to a lab environment and can help further science. In lab water, there’s a current trend within applications to use less volume, but more ultrapure water. The purity of ultrapure water is now at a level where there is little more “purity” to be found, according to Woodridge, Ill.-based ELGA LabWater.

Most lab facilities are looking for sources of ultrapure (18.2 Megohm) water systems. These facilities want their ultrapure water system to be fed tap water instead of pre-treated water, which, according to Julie Foster, global product manager, Water Purification, Thermo Fisher Scientific, is the traditional type of water the water system would require. As lab buildings move away from building-central systems to produce pre-treated water for the building, labs look for water systems that directly convert tap water to Type 1 ultrapure water.

“Customers were always able to build a system configuration of a pre-treatment system, plus tank, plus ultrapure water system; but now, they are able to buy smaller compact systems to perform this conversation of tap to Type 1 water,” says Foster.

Currently, there’s also a movement in certain applications, such as chromatography or spectroscopy, towards automation to increase throughput. This means laboratory water technology can be used in the automation processes.

According to ELGA LabWater, customers increasingly want to use raw potable as their feed source for their water purification systems; so there’s a growth in demand for tap to Type 1 units. Systems are also becoming more modular, so users can upscale or expand their water systems like they do with analysers.

As systems are becoming more modular and configurable, remote dispensing is also much more in demand. And, now, according to ELGA LabWater, multiple dispensing points in the lab are often required, especially in new laboratories.

“Flexibility of water dispensing has also been improved so a user can easily dispense from the system or from a remote dispenser,” says Foster.

Most of the enhancements with water purification systems have occurred to make the water system more user-friendly and adaptable to a user’s work environment. “Updated displays make water systems easier to use and make monitoring the system’s performance simple,” says Foster.

ELGA LabWater’s water purification system set-up in a laboratory setting. Image: ELGA LabWater
ELGA LabWater’s water purification system set-up in a laboratory setting. Photo credit: ELGA LabWater

There are also more mounting options for water systems in the laboratory. Water systems can now be mounted on a bench, under the bench, on the wall or can sit as a stacked configuration on the floor. Other enhancements include monitoring at the point-of-use/dispense, inline microbial and biofiltration and real-time TOC monitoring.While lab water technology has gone through multiple enhancements, some still need to be made to better advance science. From ELGA LabWater’s customers’ perspective, enhancements are more about simplicity, ease-of-use and lower consumable running costs. This can be achieved through ergonomic and robust design combined with optimising technologies within the water purification system.

The lab water technologies used today have largely been used for decades, but, according to Foster, there are a few technologies that could be improved. Electrodeionisation (EDI) technology deionises water in place of a traditional deionisation cartridge. “The benefit of the EDI technology is the module can be recharged over and over again for an average three to five years, whereas a traditional deionisation cartridge can’t be recharged and is often replaced every six to 12 months,” says Foster.

The challenge with EDI technology is it’s very sensitive to hardness in the water and can require additional pre-treatment steps to ensure the life of the EDI module is adequate.

The future is bright for lab water, as there will be continued and increased usage in critical areas of research, and labs will likely always require purified water. The goal then becomes for vendors to continue to improve water systems to make them more user-friendly and ensure they are able to fit into the workflow of any lab. “This may include adaptations to the water system to make them compatible with future high-sensitivity life science and analytical applications and methods,” says Foster.

New technology will bring higher flow rates and lower operating and ownership costs. High water purity is used in nearly every lab, and ELGA LabWater doesn’t see this changing. Pure or ultrapure water is often seen as a commodity or utility, but it’s also one of the most important reagents in the lab.

The proper gas solutions for your laboratory
In lab gas technology, the move from helium to hydrogen as a carrier gas has slowed as a high percentage of labs that made the change didn’t achieve the performance expected. The time to convert all processes and revalidate peaks is time consuming, according to Frank Kandl, director of business development for specialty gas equipment, Airgas Inc., Radnor, Pa. And not being able to compare historical chromatograms because of retention time differences and resolution was also an issue.

“In addition, most who decide to switch want to move to gas generators; and this is an issue with bench space,” says Kandl. “It’s typically at a premium, and the need for multiple units compounds this problem.”

As anyone who runs a lab understands how valuable space is, the last thing lab owners want to do is take up space with a cylinder or dewar. Today, gas supply is becoming hands-off for researchers. And lab owners seek to take high-pressure cylinders out of the lab to reduce risks of gas leakage in a researcher’s bench space.

Airgas also sees stricter precision requirements for gas mixtures in lab environments, including traceability to international standards for weights and derivative measurements. And, as safety is one of the greatest emphases in a lab environment, it’s driving more gas detection and monitoring requirements, as well as the need for better calibration gases.

Safety is one of the greatest concerns in any lab environment, this drives more gas detection and monitoring along with the need for better calibration gases. Photo credit: Airgas
Safety is one of the greatest concerns in any lab environment, this drives more gas detection and monitoring along with the need for better calibration gases. Photo credit: Airgas

“This trend has led to an increased focus on environmentally friendly containers, such as reusable cylinders instead of disposables,” says Tony Reccek, director of business development for specialty gases, Airgas Inc.Cylinder treatments prior to gas filling have improved long-term stability and increased shelf life, and manufacturing techniques have improved the precision and accuracy of gas mixtures. “There have also been improvements in data handling that require less user involvement and, therefore, reduce errors by integrating data from the supplier to the user electronically,” says Reccek.

On the equipment side, there’s more emphasis on improvements in the gas delivery system and its components. “For example, there have been simple and inexpensive changes like added check valve cylinder connections,” says Kandl. “The combination of components is reducing leak sources. This creates efficiencies in gas usage and has removed components that added contaminants into the gas stream.” As most processes are repetitive, chromatographers need the same gas purity from the source to the instrument. In research, consistent results are of upmost importance.

However, standards must be created for how gas companies determine and name purity for gases and how companies are allowed to publish purities. This will create consistencies for labs, as they will know the exact levels of any contaminant in their gas.

“Currently, there are no standards in the U.S. or elsewhere on how a gas purity analysis is done,” says Kandl. “The users need to examine the Certificate of Analysis each time to determine if it’s the same as before or, if there was an analysis done, to determine if the product was only labeled as high purity.”

In the future, Kandl says there will be central gas distribution systems and improved gas delivery systems that will address how to maintain the purity of the gas from source to instrument. Smart systems will provide a visual or audible alarm when an event happens to compromise the purity.

Read this article in full at: RDmag.com

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