reverse osmosis systems for autoclave and microbial purposes

[Tom Hodder]

Hi all,

We recently obtained a melag euroklav off ebay, and it's brilliantly easy to use, but it's using a lot of our stock of deionized water.

I am thinking about proposing we get a reverse osmosis system for the lab, something like this;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003XELTTG/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2

I was wondering whether anyone had any comments, or experiences of RO filter systems for use in a microbial lab..

Thanks in advance,

Tom

[Nathan McCorkle]

I don't know too much about RO systems, but years ago I helped install one on a farm/ranch where they had spring water. Since this was in a semi-arid climate, and thus water was a limited resource, there was concern that the filters used a lot of water to backflush and clean them out. I bring this up as I wonder if you would need to backflush with sterile water, to prevent contamination from lodging itself onto the clean side of the filter, leaving a looming latent contamination problem.

[scoc...@gmail.com]

We use this in our autoclaves. It works quite well, takes tap water, and no permanent installation, and its not affected our autoclaves which we have been running using this system for about 2 years. We have a large tuttnauer and a small one too. All running smoothly. No buildup or staining. TDS meter reads zero (thanks to ion resin) and we use this water for media (plants and bacteria). Wish I had the model number but its somewhere filed away.

Sebastian S. Cocioba
CEO & Founder
New York Botanics, LLC
Plant Biotech R&D

---

From: Nathan McCorkle
Sent: ‎10/‎29/‎2014 3:14 PM
To: diybio
Subject: Re: [DIYbio] reverse osmosis systems for autoclave and microbialpurposes

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[Tom Hodder]

On 29 October 2014 19:13, Nathan McCorkle <nmz...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 5:32 AM, Tom Hodder <t...@limepepper.co.uk> wrote:

I was wondering whether anyone had any comments, or experiences of RO filter systems for use in a microbial lab..

I wonder if you would need to backflush with sterile water, to prevent contamination from lodging itself onto the clean side of the filter, leaving a looming latent contamination problem.

It looks like the 7th stage in a 7 stage filter is a UVC anti microbe filter;

1st Stage: 5 micron high-capacity polypropylene sediment filter 
2nd Stage: GAC Carbon Filter 
3rd Stage: CTO Carbon Filter 
4th Stage: 100GPD TFC reverse osmosis membrane 
5th Stage: Total Polishing Inline Carbon 10" 
6th Stage: Alkaline Filter 
7th Stage11W UV Filter

http://www.amazon.co.uk/iSpring-7-Stage-Reverse-Osmosis-Alkaline/dp/B006X3YJKK/ref=pd_sim_sbs_diy_3

There is also a schedule for replacing the filters, as we are going to need to be tracking that sort of stuff.

But if it was going to be a major problem, we could add a UV filter as a stage-0 filter, and then again with a stage-7 system

​

 

[John Griessen]

On 10/30/2014 03:06 AM, Tom Hodder wrote:
> On 29 October 2014 19:13, Nathan McCorkle <nmz...@gmail.com <mailto:nmz...@gmail.com>> wrote:

>
>
> On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 5:32 AM, Tom Hodder <t...@limepepper.co.uk <mailto:t...@limepepper.co.uk>> wrote:
>
>
> I was wondering whether anyone had any comments, or experiences of RO filter systems for use in a microbial lab..
>
>
> I wonder if you would need to backflush with sterile water, to prevent contamination

In the 7 filter diagram, the central filter has a four way valve, (not diagrammed obviously),
that is for back flushing. The others never have a flow reversal.
Since other filters and UV light follow that, the occasional
contamination from back flush water still gets filtered out or flows out, and any
salts could be dumped by running the output into the drain for
enough time after doing a back flush.

The diagram suggested no back flush -- to me it looks like a suggestion of
replace per 2 years running. anyhow, whenever changing connections, it's probably
a good idea to divert the output to waste for enough time to purge it.