Views: 356 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-01-21 Origin: Site
Yingtai: How to choose a suitable vacuum centrifuge concentrator for your application?
A vacuum centrifuge concentrator combines centrifugation, vacuum, and heating methods to effectively evaporate solvents. The sample system is rapidly concentrated or dried, and evaporated solvents can be effectively collected through a cold trap and filtration. Vacuum centrifugation is commonly used for concentrating or drying biological and non-biological materials, residues, solutes, and analytes, in qualitative and quantitative analyses (such as chemistry, biochemistry, bioassays, immunoassays, and instrumental methods). Vacuum centrifugation is a frequently used separation and concentration instrument.
When choosing a vacuum centrifuge concentrator, the following common questions can provide guidance in selecting one suited to your application:
Question 1: What is the substance or solute you are concentrating or drying? Is it biological or non-biological?
Answer: Solutes are categorized into two types: biological (DNA, RNA, enzymes, proteins, vaccines, etc.) and non-biological (organic synthesis products, drug metabolites, pesticides, etc.).
1. Non-biological products: The sample concentration and drying technique for non-biological products is vacuum evaporation. These samples usually contain high concentrations of organic solvents and/or strong acids and bases. Vacuum concentration can rapidly concentrate non-biological materials.
2. Biological preparations: There are two types of concentration methods for biological preparations: freeze-drying (lyophilization) and vacuum concentration.
- Freeze-drying: When materials need to be stored for a long time, must be easily rehydrated, and require preservation of biological activity (such as proteins/enzymes), freeze-drying is usually recommended. Freeze-drying can be effectively performed in a vacuum centrifuge concentrator. Some cases may require deep vacuum (e.g., rotary vane pump) to maintain the sample in a frozen state during sublimation.
- Vacuum concentration: Most molecular biology applications involving DNA/RNA, in aqueous or aqueous + low concentrations of organic material, use vacuum concentration for sample preparation.
Question 2: What is the solvent used for your sample?
Answer: The nature of the solvent used in the sample: corrosive solvents (e.g., dichloromethane, toluene); non-corrosive solvents (e.g., ethanol, methanol, acetonitrile); high-boiling point solvents (e.g., DMSO, DMF). Choose an appropriate model based on the solvent and solute conditions in terms of vacuum level and temperature.
Question 3: What type of container will be used? What is the sample volume and the number of samples to be processed?
Answer: Based on the working volume of the sample and the number of tubes/plates or containers, choose an appropriate rotor.
Question 4: Do you prefer an integrated system or a modular system?
Answer: WIGGENS offers two types of systems:
1. Integrated system: A complete system ready for immediate use upon unboxing.
2. Modular system: A system that meets multi-purpose usage needs.
Question 5: Do you want an oil-free or oil-based vacuum pump technology?
Answer: Any vacuum centrifuge setup can be configured with either an oil-free diaphragm pump or a rotary vane oil pump. It is generally recommended to use oil-free technology for all applications, as it offers many advantages, including ease of maintenance, elimination of oil mist contamination, waste oil disposal, and oil filter maintenance. Additionally, oil pumps require frequent maintenance and may cause issues like "who forgot to check the oil?" In some applications, such as freeze-drying, an oil pump may be necessary to achieve deeper vacuum levels and evaporate high-boiling solvents (like DMSO). Although the initial cost of oil pumps may be lower than oil-free pumps, oil-free technology is the most cost-effective and low-maintenance option over the lifetime of the pump.
Question 6: What are your future application needs?
Answer: Consider not only your current application requirements but also any potential future needs. For instance, if you currently only use aqueous solvents but anticipate using corrosive solvents in the future, choose a vacuum centrifuge concentrator that can handle both types of solvents.