Turbid sample ultrafiltration

Ideas for improving turbid water sample filtration

Products

Peter and I worked in an environmental laboratory that receives many turbid samples which are used in incubation experiments. After the incubation period each sample must be filtered to <0.45um prior to chemical analyses. The samples contain a high percentage of very small particles that clog traditional syringe filters within 1 to 10ml of sample. The customer requires at least 60ml from each 100ml bulk sample. Using 6 to 20 syringe filters is expensive and time consuming. A centrifuge was tried to remove most of the particles but proved ineffective. Ultra-centrifuging showed good results but purchasing a system large enough to process 100ml samples in high enough numbers was uneconomical.

The ultra-filtration setup in the picture above comprises a peristaltic pump, 47mm cellulose acetate membrane filter holders, and a custom 3D printed manifold to organize the sample bottles, filter holders and tubing.

This solution resulted in a clear filtered sample without having to change the filter during the process. We also managed to triple the number of samples that were previously being processed per day, which can be improved further by adding more ultra-filtration stations.

If you have an idea or need help in process improvement to bring it to the next level, contact Berry 3D, we are happy to help.

Workplace health and safety

Repetitive tasks can cause fatigue and injury, Berry 3D provided customized tools to reduce or eliminate the risk.

One of the steps in Soil particle size analysis is sieving the dried soil samples into the particle size ranges. A set of sieves and a mechanical sieve shaker is used to do that. After sieving it is difficult to loosen the lock nuts to retrieve the sieve sets and had result in repetitive strain injuries. Berry 3D designed and laser cut a wrench to do make loosening those lock nuts easy. By using CAD, innovative thought in problem solving, 3D printing and Laser cutting Berry 3D can create and manufacture many different tools that couldn’t be manufactured easily before 3D printers and Laser cutters.

If you have an idea on how to make a task easier and need someone to help create and manufacture it contact Berry 3D, we are happy to help.

Customized scientific instrument sample holders

Some Scientific equipment like mid infra-red (MIR) spectrometers don’t come with removable sample holders or spare sample holders are expensive.

The new sample holders for some manufacturers MIR spectrometers are fixed and spare racks are expensive. Berry 3D laser cut and marked the positions into a layered acrylic plate. The samples can be stored ready for transfer to the instrument or archived after reading in a custom shelf unit that can take up to 10 individual plates. The cost of the new sample plates and plate holder are 1/10th the cost of the manufacturers.

Collaborative Approach

Custom sample contain holders are not limited to MIR spectrometers, Berry 3D can design an manufacture just about anything out of plastic, wood or metal. Another example is the easy clean – low vial contamination options for 1.5ml HPLC and GC vials, which are available to suite most HPLC and GC manufacture formats. If we don’t have it, we may be able to create and manufacture it.

• Our $22,000 solution negated the need for $150,000 ultracentrifuge.

• Combined multiple off-the-shelf scientific products with 3D printed manifold to provide a robust expandable solution.

• Custom printed or cut small part solves stress injuries

• Improve sample processing productivity and storage security.