News

We made a small design change to our product category pages today – A thumbnail of each SKU is now displayed at the category level (You can see an example of the upgraded look here). For many of our bench scale and laboratory equipment categories this will make it much easier and quicker to compare all of the different models and parts. While adding the SKU images may not mean as much for the membrane disc filter, syringe filter, and capsule filter categories since there isn’t a dramatic difference between a 0.1 and 0.2 micron Nylon membrane, it does still make for a cleaner looking display overall.

Do you like this new change? Have any other design fixes or upgrades you’d like us to make? Sound off in the comments!

We’re expanding our Laboratory Equipment section with the addition of the Scilogex line of products. This new gear can be found among the Mini Centrifuges, Vortex Mixers, Hotplates/Stirrers, and Shakers. We also made a new category to accommodate their collection of Overhead Stirrers.

The Scilogex products complement our existing lineup by providing a premium option to accomplish a variety of common lab functions. The new items incorporate features like digital displays to make these everyday tasks a snap. For instance, the new Orbital Shakers have an RS232 interface so they can be controlled through a PC, and Scilogex models of Mini Centrifuges include bio-safe rotors and cooling systems.

Take a look at the brochures provided on the different category pages for detailed information on each the new models!

Yesterday news broke that the possible revolutionary findings of the physics experiments that detected particles traveling faster than the speed of light may have been corrupted by two mechanical errors, one of them being a loose cable. Since proof of particles breaking the speed of light would contradict Einstein’s special theory of relativity, not to mention certain principles of quantum mechanics, the initial report in September was met with a great deal of skepticism from the scientific community, and even members of the team that released the data expressed doubts at the time. Since the announcement, the research team and physicists around the world have been reviewing the results to see if they could detect any flaws in the experiment.

The tests were performed by the OPERA collaboration, a research venture between CERN and the Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy. Initially they measured neutrinos traveling from one location to another 450 miles away and found that some arrived 60 nanoseconds earlier than should be possible under the limits of light speed, creating a stir in scientific community.

Now the same team that made the finding has uncovered two flaws in the experimental design which may have altered the results. The first issue is that the GPS tracking system they used may have been providing incorrect timestamps. The second, more attention-grabbing, problem is a faulty connection between the cable linking the GPS signal to the master clock. Oddly enough, the two concerns would actually have opposite effects on the neutrino time measurements, so the question of how fast neutrinos actually move is hardly settled. More neutrino tests will be performed this spring using CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

While some may look at the likely debunked results with a degree of snark, we can also look at this story as a reminder of how important it is to review your work. Because these particular results were so unusual and had such potential impact on modern science, close scrutiny was guaranteed. But what about our typical, everyday research? While the flaws in the OPERA team’s experiment are hardly cringe-worthy, I’m sure we can all recall incidents in our personal and professional lives in which a drastic oversight was made in a project. If anything, this should be an encouragement – even world-class physicists make the same mistakes we do. Though one advantage for physicists is that they can always just shrug and point to the Uncertainty Principle.

Read more about the OPERA experiments and the faulty cable discovery here.

In the spirit of reflection we wanted to take a look at some of our favorite posts from 2011 that you may have missed, or may want to revisit for the sake of nostalgia. It’s been an amazing year for us, and we hope everyone out there has made the most of it as well! Here’s wishing you all a Happy New Year!

• Performance Improvement of Cross-flow Filtration for High Level Waste Treatment (Feb. 2011) - Tips on improving your filtration setup from the Department of Energy and Savannah River National Laboratory.
• Bean to Bar at Theo Chocolates (Mar. 2011) - Our own Kristina Shahbazian went on a tour of the only bean-to-bar, organic, fair trade chocolate factory in the USA, located right here in Seattle.
• Legionella Sampling Just Got a Whole Lot Sexier (Apr. 2011) - How the Centers for Disease Control utilized filtration sampling and social media Epidemiology to track an outbreak of legionella bacterium at Playboy mansion's infamous grotto.
• Deadliest Carch: Man-Made Pollution (Jun. 2011) - A collective of Scandinavian marine researchers created some new sampling techniques in order to perform analysis while out at sea.
• Silver Membrane Filters Play a Part in Antimatter Trapping (Jun. 2011) - A look at one of the more cutting-edge applications for our silver membrane filters - collecting antimatter in Physics research!
• Super Sand (Jul 2011) - Researchers are combining sand with a graphite oxide to create a super-efficient water filter.
• Wastewater Mistreatment (Aug. 2011) - The story of how one Canadian company's environmental mishaps led to fines and imprisonment.
• The T-SAR Approach to Study Nanofiltration Membranes (Sep. 2011) - German scientists are applying the T-SAR methodology to predict NF membrane performance.
• EPA to Create Standards for Natural Gas Wastewater (Oct. 2011) - Detailing new EPA standards being imposed on the water used in and resulting from hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking."
• NIH Issues $10,000 Challenge to Biomedical Engineering Students (Nov. 2011) - The National Institutes of Health created the DEBUT challenge to encourage students to develop new medical devices and technology.
• Crystalline Silica Exposure in Wisconsin (Dec. 2011) - The state of Wisconsin is considering tougher standards on the amount of carcinogenic dust it will subject its miners and industrial workers to.

A new report from Lux Research indicates that the worldwide market for membranes is expected to nearly double by 2020, from $1.5 billion to $2.8 billion (USD). One of the main reasons for this growth is advancements in membrane technology which will increase their utility. Improvements in fouling resistance and chemical tolerance open the door for membranes to be used in applications that they couldn’t perform before, such as industrial water treatment.

Another reason for optimism in the membrane industry is the continued market strength in the industries that purchase membranes. The food & beverage, pharmaceutical, desalination, environmental, and biotechnology sectors all commonly use membranes in their processes and are all expected to continue growing in the United States and around the world.

What do you think? Do you see yourself using membranes more often 10 years from now?

Also visit Filtration + Separation for more information on this report.

Today’s Laboratory Equipment newsletter features an interesting article on how Purdue researchers have created a water-disinfection system that uses ultraviolet radiation from the sun to remove pathogens. With 800 million people unable to access clean drinking water, the potential for water-cleaning system that can be powered by natural resources is tremendous. According to Water.org and the United Nations Human Development Report, every 20 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease.

This water treatment device uses a parabolic reflector to capture sunlight and focus it onto a UV-transparent pipe through which the water flows. In a brilliant development, the reflector is made out of a type of wood, paulownia, which is inexpensive and easy to find in regions around the equator where these systems are most needed. Since these people do not have significant funds or materials, for any solution to be effective it would have to be inexpensive and practical to construct.

In tests the UV treatment system has shown that it can incapacitate E. coli bacteria, but it has yet to show that it can neutralize other pathogens like those that cause cholera, typhoid and diarrhea. The engineers are looking into different reflective materials, such as metalized plastic, that could improve the effectiveness of the UV treatment method. The Purdue team has also been experimenting with a sand and gravel filtration system, which could possibly be used in conjunction with the sunlight treatment as a means of providing cheap drinking water. We’ve discussed sand filtration before, and the basic operation of this kind of filter is similar to filtration by other materials. Water flows slowly through layers of sand and gravel, allowing a bacterial film to build up on the surface of the filter which removes contaminants.

While industrial water treatment is obviously much faster and more effective on a larger scale, this filter made of natural materials could create enough drinking water for a family to live on. Aqua Clara International, a non-profit firm in Michigan, has been working with Purdue and Moi University in Kenya and so for they have installed almost 2,000 of these sand filtration systems in Kenya!

Read the announcement from the Purdue Newsroom

The National Institutes of Health is having a busy week as they present a batch of new medical research funding to contributors across the country. The bulk of this funding comes from the 79 awards totaling $143.8 million being distributed through three different research programs designed to promote innovative research: the NIH Director’s Pioneer, the New Innovator, and the Transformative Research Project.

As if that wasn’t enough, NIH also announced the recipients for the NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Avant-Garde Awards for Innovative Medication Development Research. The two winners, Dr. Kosten of Baylor College of Medicine and Dr. Burkhard of University of Connecticut, will each receive $500,000 per year for five years to support their projects.

Dr. Kosten is developing a human methamphetamine vaccine, which would limit the amount the drug that reaches the brain and therefore prevent the user from getting high. This vaccine wouldn’t prevent someone from becoming addicted to methamphetamine, but it could revolutionize drug treatment by limiting the withdrawal symptoms that can lead to relapse (It could also ruin “Breaking Bad”). Dr. Kosten’s group is aiming to begin clinical trials within the next five years.

Dr. Burkhard is working on a new type of vaccine that would create a strong immune response against nicotine without requiring costly chemical enhancers. Instead, this new vaccine will use cutting-edge peptide nanoparticles to trigger the cellular immune response. This vaccination method is also being researched for the treatment of several common and rare diseases. Dr. Burkhard is also expecting to begin clinical trials within the next five years.

For more information on NIH awards, including a full list of recipients, read the official announcement here.
View the release on the NIDA Awards here.

On September 1st a new web portal created specifically for water and wastewater management will officially launch to fill the industry’s need for a comprehensive database on water infrastructure in the United States. Dubbed WATERiD, this project is funded by Virginia Tech and it is the brainchild of Sunil Sinha, a National Science Foundation Career Award recipient for his work in sustainable water infrastructure management systems.

One of the biggest problems in water utility management is figuring out when to replace pipelines and equipment, before things break and cause serious problems. It’s estimated that at least 2 million miles of the nation’s infrastructure is nearing the end of its useful life, and at present there is no singular resource for utilities to consult when making a decision on when to make replacements. This is the primary need WATERiD is looking to address. By collecting various technical papers, case studies, and research data this knowledge base can minimize the loss of institutional memory that occurs when a senior operator in a location leaves.

Over the past year Virginia Tech students and researchers have been busy visiting 87 different water and wastewater utilities around the country. So far they have compiled around 100 different case studies along with 300 technical descriptions and another 100 technology data sheets. All of this information will serve plant managers to make more informed decisions regarding their equipment and more efficiently manage their assets. Having a concentrated resource will especially benefit the smaller utilities that might otherwise be unable to gain such knowledge independently.

A key difference between WATERiD and other online databases is that the individual users will not have editing capabilities, a la Wikipedia. Instead, the information will be maintained by Virginia Tech’s Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science’s Center of Excellence in Sustainable Water Infrastructure Management (VTICTASCESWIM???). Users are still highly encouraged to share their experiences, and WATERiD will be completely free to all users.

Read Virginia Tech's announcement
Visit the official WATERiD site

More new product goodness arrives in the form of Disposable Vacuum Filters. These ready-to-use filters contain a PES membrane that provides high flow-rates and throughput for rapid filtration of tissue culture media, buffers, additives and aqueous biologicals. Consider using these filters when quick, cost-efficient filtration is of the utmost importance.

They are available now as bottle top only units or with a receiver flask (pictured here with receiver flask attached). Head over to the product page to view the full specs.

Western Biodiesel Inc. was fined $160,000 (Canadian dollars) yesterday by the Provincial Court of Alberta for releasing wastewater that contained methanol into the environment and for providing false or misleading statements to investigators. The fine is the outcome of an incident in October 2008 in which Western Biodiesel dumped around 16,000 liters of methanol-laced water onto its property.

Problems arose for Western Biodiesel the day after this release occurred when an unsuspecting welder accidentally ignited the wastewater with his torch, causing a fire that luckily yielded no injuries. In what had to be an incredibly gutsy and foolish move, the (now former) plant manager denied the release occurred when investigators showed up. He was later sentenced to four months house arrest.

So besides dumping it in a river and hoping nobody lights a match, what are the actual proper methods of methanol disposal? Methods for extracting methanol from biodiesel include: Vacuum stripping, flash evaporation, distillation, and water washing. Methanol and especially glycerol are high-value byproducts of biodiesel production, so facilities try to reclaim as much as possible for resale. Membrane separation is also used as an effective biodiesel purification method, particularly for removing glycerol particles.

Methanol is routinely used in biodiesel production during the transesterification reaction to turn plant or animal fats into fatty acids and glycerol. (Fun fact: Methanol is also a byproduct in liquor distillation and can cause blindness if ingested in large enough quantities!). European Standard 14214 specifies that biodiesel should contain no more than 0.2% methanol.

For more information you can check out the official statement from the Government of Alberta and this publication on biodiesel production from the University of Idaho.