Laboratory Air Cleaning

How many staff put themselves at risk in their labs because they don't know if their laboratory air cleaning systems are working correctly? Fume hoods and cutting benches are often the biggest culprits - the equipment is still running day after day, but is it still performing laboratory air cleaning well enough?

One of the major expenses in laboratories is the heating and cooling of the air. Commercial Air Filtration’s high-performance stand-alone laboratory air cleaning units maximize fume capture while recirculating the already warmed (or cooled) laboratory air.

The broad range of airborne contamination which can be effectively controlled by our laboratory air cleaning units include:

• VOCs
• Ozone
• Formaldehyde
• Chloroform
• Xylene

In Microbiology Labs, the overall airborne environment can be kept clean by the use of IQAir high-performance standalone laboratory air cleaning units to recirculate the air. These units can be set up to deliver a significant number of air exchanges in each separate workroom, depending on the type and extent of each contamination. The filtration media in each unit is specified directly for the particular contaminant:

• MultiGas – Granular activated carbon and impregnated alumina (AC/4 + IA/4)
• VOC – Granular activated carbon (AC/4)
• ChemiSorber – Granular impregnated alumina (IA/4)
• AM – Granular impregnated activated carbon (AC/4-AM)
• AcidPro – Granular impregnated activated carbon (AC/4-K)

Many laboratory environments have a high-velocity air conditioning system (HVAC) installed to meet building regulations. These systems can have an unintended negative impact on indoor air quality. Rather than provide clean air, HVAC systems often bring additional contaminated air into the laboratory. Recirculating standalone laboratory air filtration units avoid any such problems.

The research itself can also be compromised by different chemicals interacting with each other. Even seemingly enclosed tissue processing machines can be a cause of contamination when opening and replenishing chemicals.

The effective solution is the use of high-performance standalone laboratory air cleaning units which can operate with no ducting and no permanent installation. Each can be configured to remove a specific airborne contaminant, or range of contamination, including the major contaminants, causing most laboratory air filtration problems:

• Aldehydes
• Mercurials
• Alcohols
• Oxidising Agents
• Picrates
• Hot Paraffin Wax
• Particulates

As a self-contained unit, the IQAir laboratory air filtration unit requires only a regular electricity socket, and the unit can be placed directly at the source of any contamination. The dedicated wall mount, together with the range of accessories allowing local source capture, enable the units to be mounted exactly where you need them.

During the fixing process, the highest risk of formalin exposure occurs during filling of containers and transferring of samples. As each of these steps requires formalin to be exposed to air, allowing gas and vapour into the laboratory, laboratory air filtration is essential.

In order to avoid exposure to formalin fumes, it is vital that during any point in your process where formalin is exposed to air, a high-performance air filtration unit is cleaning the air within the work area. The IQAir FlexVac accessory enables each air filtration unit to perform source capture of fumes before exposing any laboratory staff.

Many enclosed tissue processing machines used in histology laboratories emit significant amounts of formaldehyde and formalin fumes. In often enclosed laboratory workrooms with less than ideal ventilation, the build-up of gases can have a profound effect on staff. The high-performance IQAir GCX laboratory air filtration unit, placed in the same workroom, can perform effective air cleaning of the space and provide a sufficient rate of air exchanges to keep workers free from these problem fumes.