Are you looking for the perfect guide to finding the best laboratory freeze dryer? We’ll help you! Freezer dryers, as the name suggests, use a combination of vacuum pressure and refrigeration to meet the lyophilization needs of a variety of manufacturing and research environments. Usually, they are used in food and pharmaceutical processing, cultural storage, and material stabilization. However, there are a variety of factors that need to be considered when buying a freeze dryer.
In this post, we will guide you all about the freeze dryer and how you can buy the best one. So, let’s begin with the details!
What Is a Freeze Dryer?
Also known as Lyophilizers, freeze dryers are used to process sample prep steps or for long-term storage. In the process of freeze drying, the moisture is taken out by placing the materials on racks while exposing them to the vacuum. The temperature is usually lowered and then slowly raised while causing the moisture to move from the gaseous to the solid state. Further using the process of sublimation, the sample changes its form from solid to gas, and the moisture is taken out using a deep vacuum and heat. The vapour so formed is collected on a cold coil in the form of ice for further applications such as – pharmaceuticals, material storage and stabilization, archaeological artefacts, and food processing. The main objective of a freeze dryer is the long preservation of the product without affecting its integrity.
Questions To Consider When Buying Freeze Dryers
Is the system of formulation development, cycle development, or both?
Well, it may have formulations that are less or more determined, and the freeze dryer will simply be used for making final adjustments, quality control, and cycle adjustments. In such scenarios, it is possible to be specific about the different parameters of temperature required. However, if the formulations are not much developed then you must consider a system that is more flexible in accommodating the changes. This includes – a larger shelf area, lower condenser temperature, and additional process monitoring systems. So, for the facilities that are manufacturing larger quantities of products, free drying technology can help them in streamlining the process development by automatically fine-tuning and calculating the trial cycle.
What types of products do you want to freeze-dry?
It is really important to have clarity in mind about what types of products you want to freeze dry. For example – food products are unlikely to contain organic solvents that usually require acrylic parts to be replaced using stainless steel. Diagnostic reagents are processed in smaller amounts and usually require precooled shelves. Products such as aerogels or collagens make active use of freeze-drying to specify the pore size.
Knowing the product type will also guide you about the container type. Some of the most common types of containers for freeze-drying R&D are vials and bulk trays, but flasks, microtiter plates, and PCR tubes are also used. Now, there are also some types of containers that are considered less ideal for freeze drying such as – flasks that won’t even stand their own shelf life or plastic containers that have poor thermal conductivity. However, additional requirements of cooling time and shelf spacing are taken into consideration and make them successfully freeze-dried.
Are you aware of the product’s critical temperature?
The critical temperatures of the product mean knowing the key processing setpoints. For instance, a product should be kept below its collapse temperatures during the primary drying to avoid processing defects. Other critical temperatures usually include – glass transitions, freezing temperature, and other frozen-state events. However, not every cycle is developed by knowing the critical temperatures. Even in the cases where a good cycle is developed by trial and error, the data about the product’s behavior might be required for quality control, scale-up and regulatory submissions, and process optimization. In case, your formulations are changed or you are uncertain about the product’s thermal profile, then it is important to characterize them. Different methods such as – DSC, Freeze drying microscopy, DTA, and Impedance analysis can help in understanding the collapse temperature. Ezzi Vision is one of the most trusted brands for manufacturing and distributing products like – freeze dryers, laboratory cryostats, vacuum furnaces, and vacuum chambers in Australia. Our trained technicians first understand the client’s technical requirements and then help them find the right product that adds value to them. Explore our official website to know more about our product range and prices.
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