Laboratory Processing Equipment

Safe handling practices are essential at all stages of production, from the laboratory to the manufacturing operations. The safety committee should inspect and advise on processing equipment and be responsible for providing personal protection, eye wash fountains, safety showers, etc. 

A. B. Shuck and R. M. Mayfield, The Process Equipment and Protective Enclosures Designedfor the Fuel Fabrication Facility, Facility No. 350, ANL-5499, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, lU., 1956. 

Factors may throw off these rates—these are outlined in ASTM G3I, Standard Practice for Laboratory Immersion Corrosion Testing of Metals. Coupon-type tests cannot be correlated with changing plant conditions that may dramaticahy affect process equipment lifetimes. Other methods must be used if more frequent measurements are desired or correlation with plant conditions are necessary. 

The processing technologies for elastomeric blends, thermoplastic elastomer-based on mechanical mixing, and elastomer-plastic vulcanizates are distinctly different. Depending on the type and nature of blend, size, and their final application, a wide range of processing equipment is now in use both industrially as well as in laboratory scale preparation. 

Equipment a listing of the equipment used in the laboratory processing of the RAC. 

Figure All Purged enclosure for operation of laboratory HPLC equipment in process area.

New processes, developed from laboratory research, through pilot plant, to a commercial process. Even here, most of the unit operations and process equipment will use established designs. 

Polymer Processing. Polymer films were cast in trimethylsilyl coated glass molds from membrane filtered 15% (w/v) methylene chloride or chloroform solutions. Transparent films were obtained which were dried to constant weight in high vacuum. Rectangular strips or round disks were cut from the films. For compression molding a Carver laboratory press equipped with thermostated, heated platens was used. Polymers were placed in a stainless steel mold and heated to 40 °C above their glass transition temperature. Then a load of 1-2 tons was applied for 5 min. 

The major manufacturers of factory size processing equipment for the rubber industry also offer a range of equipment of a suitable size for laboratory use. Specific requirements can usually be accommodated in addition to a range of standard equipment. Many of the items will be built to specific demand from the customer. 

Samples of the Form I API were formulated in the laboratory to understand the precipitation issue. It was quickly discovered that the laboratory process now produced material with the same precipitation problems as the capsules from the manufacturing plant. Despite considerable effort the From II precipitate could not be avoided. It is suspected that the laboratory equipment had become contaminated with trace quantities of the Form II crystals and these promoted the transformation of Form I material into the thermodynamically stable Form II. 

The laboratory should specify and document the laboratory processes (e g. the analytical methods) and the laboratory resources (irrstnrments, equipment etc.) that are necessary to produce the laboratory product i.e. the analysis results. 

The quality plan defines the inputs and outputs of any laboratory process. For example, the quality plans refer to the analytical methods, the irrstnrments and laboratory equipment that are used for the analysis, the characteristics of the analysis results etc. All laboratory processes (e g. analytical methods) and laboratory products (e g. analytical resrrlts) should be subject to verification and validation to ensme that they are fit for the ptrrpose. The acceptance criteria should be defined and records should always be kept as evidence of meeting the requirements. 

In addition, suitable equipment and suitable monitoring and measuring devices should be available so that the laboratory processes operate effectively. The procedures for the release of the laboratory product, i.e. the acceptance of the laboratoiy resnlts as well as that for the delivery of snch results to the customers, have to be specified and controlled. 

Laboratory for Process Equipment and boratoiy for Measurement and Control, Delft University of Technology, Mekehveg 2, Delft, Netherlands... 

---