Posts by Rachel Kohn
How to Select Ultrasonic Cleaner Accessories
Think of selecting ultrasonic cleaner accessories as though you are buying a new car. You have the choice of standard equipment and equipment or features that are “optional at extra cost.”
The “options” largely depend on the ultrasonic cleaner manufacturer. This is why it is important for you to have a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish in your ultrasonic cleaning process. Our post on ultrasonic cleaner application ideas provides a good tutorial on this.
This post is designed to help you select ultrasonic cleaning accessories that are either required to help you quickly and successfully accomplish your ultrasonic cleaning tasks or simply “nice to have.”
Similarly this post does not go into detail on selecting a specific ultrasonic cleaner. That is generally based on the size of your operations and what you intend to do with the equipment. We cover this topic in … Read the rest
How to Select a Stability Test Chamber
Knowing how to specify a stability test chamber calls for a clear understanding of what stability test chambers do, how they relate to the various components or ingredients that go into the product you manufacture and where these products are used.
In this post we’ll provide some examples of things to consider when specifying a stability test chamber then share suggestions on what to look for in this critical equipment.
As a refresher or for readers new to the subject here is an answer to what constitutes a stability test chamber.
What is a Stability Test Chamber?
Most stability test chambers resemble a large scientific refrigerator. Only instead of keeping contents cool, their function is to replicate variations in temperature, humidity and light over long periods of time. This is critical when pharmaceutical companies, for example, wish to bring new products to market.
It has everything to do with … Read the rest
How to use a Moisture Analyzer for Liquid Products
At first it might seem that determining moisture content in liquids is a contradiction in terms. After all, liquids are moisture, right? But think of the difference in taste between a quality brand of vegetable juice and the watered-down taste of a bargain brand. That’s why processors of quality liquid products such as juices and syrups use a moisture analyzer to determine if their product meets their own and industry standards.
Drying ovens to remove excess moisture are part of the processing steps in preparing products such as vegetable juices. But spot-checks using a moisture analyzer should be made prior to packaging. Also called moisture balances, these devices consist of a halogen heater mounted on a precision analytical balance. They are programmed to determine moisture content by the thermogravimetric process and display loss of weight on drying (LOD). “Drying” might seem a misnomer here because the liquid is never fully … Read the rest
Use a Moisture Analyzer for Wood Pellet Quality Control
Wood pellets are becoming more popular as an alternative or supplementary source of heat in many homes and businesses across the land. The Pellet Fuel Institute in October 2011 issued its “Standard Specification for Residential/Commercial Densified Fuel” including recommended moisture content for premium, standard and utility grade wood pellets. A compact moisture analyzer can be used to spot-check moisture content during pellet processing steps.
The Wood Pellet Manufacturing Cycle
A typical 40-pound bag of wood pellets originates as hard- or softwood sawdust, chips, waste materials from furniture and floor manufacturing – virtually any source of wood including trees unsuitable for other uses. The stock is processed to a uniform size with a moisture content of about 13% to 16% prior to the pelletizing operation. Pelletizing is accomplished under high temperatures (~200 ˚F) and pressure (~ 45,000 psi) during which the lignin in the wood serves to bind the particles together … Read the rest
A Vaccine Refrigeration Specification Guide
Proper vaccine refrigeration is not a hit-or-miss proposition. Each year there are reports on how improper vaccine storage or other mishaps relating to vaccines result in loss of potency. This necessitates locating and revaccinating those who have received compromised inoculations plus the associated cost and inconvenience. Proper vaccine storage is also a critical element for complying with government-funded Vaccines for Children (VFC) programs.
Vaccine manufacturers are careful to note the proper storage temperatures for their products along what is called the cold chain of custody between manufacturing and inoculation. But manufacturers have little influence on the equipment used by healthcare facilities to maintain these temperatures. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has stepped into this by issuing its 2016 Vaccine Storage and Handling Toolkit to provide comprehensive information on this vital activity. The Toolkit also covers in detail the importance of staff training and written standard … Read the rest
How to Check Pump System Accuracy for HPLC Analysis
Pump system accuracy is crucial for equipment used to conduct high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis in the pharmaceutical and other industries subject to regulatory oversight by the FDA and similar authorities. Among functions performed by HPLC are included checks for purity, monitoring changes in pharmaceutical intermediates during chemical synthesis scale-up, stability and dissolution tests, and performing ongoing quality control procedures.
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A Brief on HPLC Analysis
Identifying an analyte by HPLC is based on accurate and reproducible column retention time as the analyte is pumped through an HPLC system. Reproducible retention time is critical and depends on accurate, uniform, reproducible HPLC pump flow rates.
Note that it is important to distinguish between accuracy and precision. These two terms may seem the same but they are not necessarily so. For example, an HPLC system (or for that matter many other systems such as analytical scales) may … Read the rest
How to Use Moisture Analyzers for Grain & Flour Quality Control
Moisture content, defined as the percentage of a product’s weight due to water, is an essential measure of quality control. A gravimetric moisture analyzer is employed across a broad spectrum of industries to confirm that moisture content is in line with regulations governing a particular industry.
Agricultural products such as grains and the flour derived from grains provide an illustration of where a moisture analyzer is put into play. A University of Minnesota Extension Report, for example, states that wheat and barley grain must have a moisture content of 13% to 14% for safe storage. Achieving that target can be costly and time consuming in wet weather.
When wheat is milled to flour another target applies. A study at the Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, reports … Read the rest
Stability Testing for Temperature and Humidity
Stability Testing for Temperature and Humidity
Stability testing is a critical part of drug and medicinal product development to determine the shelf life of such products under a variety of environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. Family prescriptions likely have on their label a recommended “use by” date and notification if special storage conditions should be observed. The regulatory mandate for stability testing in the United States is contained in 21 CFR Part 211 Section 166.
Tests to determine storage requirements and shelf life for drugs and other medicinal products are taken under a variety of imposed and tightly controlled environmental conditions. Because testing time can be extensive accelerated studies are permitted to support tentative expiration dates provided full shelf life studies are being conducted.
Temperature and Humidity Test Chamber Specs
Stability testing is performed in specially designed test chambers capable of duplicating a broad range of temperature … Read the rest
Ultrasonic Cavitation vs. Air in an Ultrasonic Cleaner
Ultrasonic cleaning procedures described in our posts nearly always call attention to the importance of degassing fresh cleaning solutions. Degassing is the process of removing trapped air in liquids. You can see this by letting a glass of water stand for awhile and note the bubbles that appear on the inside surface. Trapped, entrained or dissolved, air inhibits cavitation, which is the implosion of micron-size vacuum bubbles that accomplish the cleaning.
Simply operating the equipment for a time, the length of which depends on the volume of cleaning solution, will drive off trapped air. The process can be hastened by a Degas mode on an ultrasonic cleaner. It does the job by switching on and off causing air bubbles to coalesce and allowing them rise to the surface and burst.
Removing Other Air in an Ultrasonic Cleaner
Air can be introduced … Read the rest
Meeting JCAHO Requirements for Refrigerated Storage
Keypad door locks help meet JCAHO requirements for securing samples stored in healthcare organizations’ refrigerators and freezers. The aim is to control access to lab freezer and lab refrigerator contents while eliminating the risks of keys being lost or duplicated without authorization. A solution for security departments in healthcare organizations and research labs is the Norlake Secure Guard II™ keypad door lock system. It is compatible with Nor-Lake glass and solid door scientific refrigerators and freezers as well as certain models from other suppliers.
Secure Guard II, available from Tovatech, provides up to 250 users with access to refrigerated storage units using their existing magstripe ID or proximity ID cards. Adding and deleting users can be accomplished at the unit. Stored information is safe due to the non-volatile memory. An audit trail of the most recent 1500 access attempts provides date, time and user name, and is downloadable via an … Read the rest
