Solvent Handling Trolley
Transfer fresh and waste solvent between a filling station and several instruments without ever coming into direct contact with the solvents
Transfer fresh and waste solvent between a filling station and several instruments without ever coming into direct contact with the solvents
One of the most tedious tasks in a Polymer Separation laboratory, where techniques such as Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) / Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC), Temperature Rising Elution Fractionation (TREF), Crystallization Elution Fractionation (CEF) or similar ones are used, is transferring large volumes of fresh solvent to the instruments in order to maintain a continuous flow through the columns; and to dispose of used solvent to a waste container. The solvent transfer is typically done with 2L or 1-gallon bottles, which are usually heavy, especially when handling chlorinated solvents. In addition to the heavy lifting involved, it is also necessary to take several protective measures to carry out the operation without incurring personal safety risks. Wearing a mask is required to avoid inhalation of vapors.
Specifically, in a Polyolefin Characterization laboratory, where the typically used solvents have densities around 1.4 Kg/L, as in the case of TCB and o-DCB, solvent manipulation with bottles becomes increasingly inconvenient and dangerous. It is also a task needed to be done very frequently because the separation techniques require continuous solvent refilling and waste disposal.
The Solvent Handling Trolley (SHT) has been designed to address all these difficulties, and minimize the risks prone to happen when manipulating solvents in the laboratory. Its operation is very easy, thought to make the process faster and simpler.
This method allows the repeated transfer of fresh solvent and waste between instruments, and reservoir and waste station in a much more efficient way, without the risks of inhaling vapors, intoxication by contact, lifting heavy bottles, or avoiding an accidental breakage if dropped. There is also no need to wear neither a mask nor gloves during the process.
Connect the trolley’s solvent bottle and vent lines to the reservoir station and press the start button to fill the trolley’s bottle. While filling the bottle, the vapors generated will return to the solvent reservoir station, avoiding any contamination of the air. When the transfer is complete, press the stop button.
Take the trolley close to the analytical instrument, connect the trolley’s solvent bottle and vent lines to the ones of the bottle in the instrument, and press start. When the instrument’s bottle has been filled, stop the process.
Connect the instrument’s waste and vent lines to the ones in the trolley’s waste bottle to empty it. Press start to initiate the transfer and once the bottle is empty, stop the process.
Take the trolley to the waste station, connect the trolley’s waste bottle and vent lines to the ones in the waste barrel, and start the transfer. When the waste bottle in the trolley is empty, stop the process.
Facilitating Laboratory Operations
· Easy transfer of solvents inside the laboratory
· The use of the trolley contributes to the improvement of health and safety levels in the laboratory
· Compatible with any organic solvent
· Eliminates the need to carry heavy solvent bottles by hand
· Reduces the risk of breaking bottles by accident
· Avoids contact with solvents
· The solvent is transferred through an airtight system so no solvent vapors are released to the ambient
· Eliminates the need to wear masks when transferring solvent
· Efficient and easy to use
· Includes two units of 10L bottles and a pair of bottle caps with the proper connections for your instrument’s bottles
· The SHT has the possibility of filtering the solvent in-line to remove any undesirable particles. The filters are disposable.
Handling and transferring solvents are necessary tasks in laboratories but they are also risky in many ways. Some of these risks include potential intoxication by contact or vapor inhalation, or dropping and breaking solvent bottles because of how heavy they are.
Yes, you will need specific caps to ensure the proper connections for transferring the solvents and vapors between the SHT and the instrument/s.
We supply two complimentary units of these caps together with the Solvent Handling Trolley.
Yes you can, you only need to change your instrument’s bottle caps for SHT-compatible caps (see question above)
Once the bottle in your trolley is full of fresh solvent, there are only 4 steps to prepare your instrument for analysis:
1. Take the SHT near your instrument
2. Connect the fresh solvent lines to the instrument’s bottle and press START to begin the transfer
3. Connect the waste solvent lines to the instrument’s bottle and press START to begin the transfer
4. Disconnect all the lines
If the waste trolley bottle is full, you will need to take your trolley to the solvent station for emptying.
It depends on the bottle size. The pump rate is set to 1L/min approx.
It is not advisable to leave the SHT unattended while it’s transferring solvent but, as a safety measure to avoid overflowing, the SHT will automatically stop transferring solvent after 3 minutes. The user will be able to start the process again if the bottle is not completely full.
The SHT will always add safety benefits and improve the health level in your laboratory even when with one instrument only, because it allows the safe transfer of fresh and waste solvents, avoiding unnecessary risks.
No vapors are released. Whilst the solvent is travelling from the SHT to the instrument, its vapors travel in the opposite direction through separate tubes. These vapors will be trapped inside the solvent bottles, which are interconnected, therefore the pressure inside each bottle will stay the same.
The SHT is compatible with any organic solvent, however, you should use only one type of solvent per SHT unit at any given time to avoid potential contamination of your different solvents.
If using more than one solvent is a common routine in your lab, you should have one Solvent Handling Trolley for each type of solvent.
No installation is necessary by a Polymer Char engineer. The SHT units are delivered as a partially assembled set with clear instructions on how to proceed to complete the assembly and start using it straight away.
Starting in 2018, all Polymer Char instruments are delivered with SHT compatible caps, so if your instrument is older than that, please contact us to get a quote for the necessary caps.
No frequent maintenance tasks are necessary other than a simple maintenance to the waste solvent pumps, because the constant flow of polymer residue can end up obstructing them. This maintenance is recommended once a year or if you notice a dramatic decrease in the transfer flow rate.
Yes, this is possible. The SHT incorporates an (optional) in-line filter, that eliminates undesirable particles. The removed particles are equivalent to using a 0.45 microns membrane filter. The filters are disposable.
Thank you for your interest. If you would like to receive more information or want to request a quotation please complete this form.
Published in LCGC EU
September 2017
B. Monrabal, T. González, P. del Hierro, A. Roig
Poster
Presented at the 7th ICPC
2018
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