Blog - Biotech

Integrate your degasser

Biotech Fluidics has recently launched a new series of DEGASi® online degassers, designed for integration into analytical or production instrument assemblies. The new degassers are featured with an electronic validation output signal that corresponds to the level of vacuum within the degasser (5 mV/mmHg). This quality allows your instrument software to continuously monitor the degasser performance and present that to the user. If the vacuum level would not meet the set requirements, this feature enables providing the user with adequate warnings or even prevent certain instrument events. This ability to integrate monitoring of your degasser performance is in line with recent regulatory demands regarding instrument performance qualification and is for example aligning with the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) general chapter 1058.

For more information about this new series of DEGASi® Integration degassers with validation output, or to discuss the selection of degasser for your application, please contact Biotech Fluidics.

Biotech Solvent Line Monitor

The new Solvent Line Monitor from Biotech Fluidics is a small stand-alone device that efficiently detects bubbles in solvent flow lines and then send electronic trigger signals or activate acoustic alarms.

This clever monitor can safeguard your laboratory against running out of solvent in critical applications, thus avoiding faulty analysis results, system downtime, or even extensive equipment maintenance. The device is perfect for liquid chromatography and HPLC systems and can be set up to automatically trigger a pump shutdown or a switching valve when a solvent flow line becomes empty or contains too many micro bubbles.

Welcome to Pittcon 2023

Please stop by to visit us at Booth 2722 to see samples of:

The new REFRACTi™ MASTER RI detector, perfect for determination of compounds with low UV absorbance.
Biotech Liquid Flow Meter, a new Flow Meter which enables continuous measurement of flow rate, without interference in fluidic systems.
The Biotech DEGASi® Plus series, our online degassers that ensures efficient degasification of flowing liquids designed for different solvents and a wide range of flow rates.

Welcome to Booth 2722!

REFRACTi™ MASTER update

REFRACTi™ MASTER update
The new REFRACTi™ MASTER RI detector from Biotech Fluidics excels in every aspect, and it is perfect for determination of compounds with low UV absorbance including simple sugars, complex carbohydrates, alcohols, fatty acids, and polymers.

With a 4.3” touch panel, intuitive user interface and features as extended temperature range up to 80 °C, this is a refractive index detector truly built for modern HPLC analysis. The detector do also have an automatic detection of sample path blockage, as well as a built-in overpressure safety assembly to prevent any cell breakage in case of blockage.

New periodic table of fittings

New periodic table of fittings

The poster ‘Periodic Table of the Analytical Fittings’ is available in a new updated version.

This very useful visual overview poster presents a wide range of fittings for analytical liquid handling systems in a structured and comprehensive layout (inspired by the periodic table of elements). Here you can get quick information about suitable fittings for a certain port design, for a certain tubing size, and for a certain pressure rating. Each of the 117 fittings are presented with clear information about suitable ferrule combinations and material details, with an indication if any tools are required to tighten the fitting, as shown by the examples in the excerpt picture. Order your printed copy from Biotech Fluidics or download the pdf version by following the link below:

Biotech Celebrates 15 Years

How did it start?

2007 the ledgendary entreprenuer Ralf Jutvik and Analytical Chemist Anders Grahn met and decided to start a new company ꟷ Biotech. 15 years later the company has transformed from a small start-up to become an important global supplier of great fluidic solutions to leading instrument manufacturers and distributors, with offices in the US and Japan and sales to 40 countries.

What do we do?

For more than 15 years we have developed and delivered innovative laboratory products to instrument manufacturers and distributors across the world. We specialize in chromatography and finding solutions to issues with gases and bubbles in fluidic systems. By using our advanced degassers, the laboratory is able to optimize the performance of its analytical instruments and chromatographic equipment. Our degassing solutions save the industry both time and money by avoiding production disruptions caused by bubbles in the fluidic lines.

What will we do?

Our mission is to empower you to design and assemble unique products by being a reliable partner for fluidic components, offering first-class service, in-depth knowledge and advanced technical support for all the items we provide. We work closely with our customers and participate in a variety of research projects with well-known European and American companies and institutions. In this way, we can take advantage of the synergy effects that occur between research and applied technology.

Celebrate with us!

For one purchase during the period 7th to 25th November we send a bag with Sweden’s most purchased car 😉 AND a wireless cellphone charger. Add “free charger” to your order.

Take advantage of our offer!

For one purchase during the period 7th to 25th November, we offer a 15% discount on our Biotech Liquid Flow Meter AND a bag with Sweden’s most purchased car 😉 AND a wireless cellphone charger. Add “free charger” to your order.

Learn more

Katarina Alenäs new board member of Biotech

Press release 2022-10-26

Katarina Alenäs new board member of Biotech

Biotech is expanding on the international market. In order to continue the growth journey the company is strengthening the board with Katarina Alenäs, who has long-term experience from the field of analytical instrumentation.

Katarina Alenäs has a current position as Senior Vice President Chromatography at Nanologica AB which is a Swedish biotech company focused on nanoporous silica. She holds a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Lunds Tekniska Högskola and B.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Greenwich University and has a long experience in the LifeScience area in general and Chromatography in particular.

Katarina has previously held several commercial management roles at Agilent Technologies and worked at Shimadzu in Chromatography sales. She started her career as a Development engineer for Kromasil’s silica-based packing media for preparative chromatography 25 years ago.

Anders Grahn
Chairman of the Board & Founder, Biotech AB

About Biotech AB

Biotech AB supplies innovative laboratory products to instrument manufacturers & distributors around the world. With sales offices in Minnesota, USA and Fuji, Japan the company have a high global coverage which is important when having large international instrument manufacturers as customers. Biotech AB is specialized in fluidic components for analytical- and biotechnology instrumentation, but serve also other fields such as medtech. The companies market leading degassing solutions save the industry both time and money by avoiding production disruptions caused by bubbles in the fluidic lines.

Enrich liquids with gases?

What if there was a way to enrich liquids with gases of interest, in a controlled manner?

Biotech Fluidics offers high-efficiency in line degassing equipment to obtain >90% removal of dissolved gasses from liquids, employing vacuum-based degassing. Some applications, however, require the opposite, i.e. enrichment of certain gasses in given liquids. Utilizing the reversed principle of vacuum-based degassing, we here present new insight on the vacuum-chamber, which can evidently be used to enrich fluids with gases of interest. By applying an over-pressure of a given gas on the chamber, through which your fluid of interest is pumped, the amount of dissolved gas can be substantially increased, allowing you to regulate the gas content in a highly controlled manner.

The principle was demonstrated by pumping tap water through a 9000-1523 degassing chamber with and without over-pressure of air (0.15 MPa). As expected, the enrichment of oxygen is highly temperature dependent, while the flowrate displays a negligible impact. With the current setup, the amount of dissolved oxygen could easily be increased by 100%, corresponding to an absolute enrichment of approximately 6.7 mg/ml at 10 °C and 7 ml/min. Due to lower solubility of gasses at high temperatures, the enrichment was 2.6 mg/ml at 50 °C and 7 ml/min, yet corresponding to 67% increase.

This shows the dual functionality of the vacuum chamber, which appears to be not only great for degassing purposes, but is also a terrific device for dissolved gas enrichment. Using such a chamber you can now easily add an in-line mechanism to your setup to boost the solutions with gasses of interest.

Learn more about the Biotech Fluidics vacuum chambers at the product webpages linked below, or contact Biotech Fluidics to discuss the most appropriate chamber for your application.

Experimental details: 0.15 MPa overpressure of air was applied on a 9000-1523 degassing chamber, through which regular tap water at various temperatures was pumped at 7 ml/min and 14 ml/min respectively. The amount of dissolved oxygen was monitored continuously before and after the pressurized chamber.

Maintenance of Degassers

How to get maximum lifetime from your degasser

Modern online degassers used in liquid chromatography, (U)HPLC, and other instruments handling liquids with high precision and accuracy, are fortunately essentially maintenance-free. However, there are a few things to keep in mind not to shorten the lifetime of your online degasser.

Firstly, one should always use a degassing chamber that is compatible with the solvents that will be used. Organic solvents such as hexane, heptane, toluene, tetrahydrofurane (THF), and dichloromethane (DCM), typically demand specially designed degassing chambers. These degassing chambers are often labelled GPC to highlight their suitability in gel permeation chromatography, but they are equally suitable for normal phase and flash chromatography applications where such organic solvents are also employed.

As with any fluidic component it is advised not to leave your degassing chamber with liquid inside when disconnected from use. This is especially important when there are salts or buffer components dissolved into the liquid since they may precipitate. Precipitates will block the flow path and are notoriously very problematic to wash out again. In addition, buffered aqueous solutions exposed to open air may constitute an attractive environment for microbial growth, which can also cause blockage of the flow path.

Finally, it is strongly recommended to always suck solutions through the degassing chambers, rather than pumping or pushing liquids through them. The internal semi-permeable membrane material that allows gases to penetrate while blocking liquids, is designed to withstand a certain pressure difference. That limit may accidentally be exceeded if liquids are pumped too fast into the degassing chamber, which may cause irreparable damage.

Biotech Fluidics is dedicated to supporting our customers and we look forward to guiding you to the most suitable degasser model for your application. Special design options might also be available on request, including for example, high pressure rated degassing chambers.

Intuitive Click Fitting

Intuitive click fitting for low pressure applications

Are you dreaming about trouble-free and consistent low-pressure tubing connections? Would a fitting providing this facilitate your laboratory life? Especially in locations where you frequently exchange fluid path components, such as flash columns, in-line filters or eluent bottles?

The new Intuitive™ fitting system with its patented self-adjusting torque-limiting nut for low pressure applications, provides a haptic feedback click when it has been sufficiently tightened. You never again have to worry about leaking connections, nor about overtightening and squeezing tubes or damaging ports. The click feedback is built to work for at least 80 repeated assemblies and is thus ideal in positions where components are changed frequently. Being designed for ¼”-28 ports compatible with Flanged, Flangeless, and Super Flangeless ferrule designs, and available in versions for both 1/16” and 1/8” OD tubing, we are confident this is the most easy-to-use, flexible and intuitive low-pressure fitting system available. Hence the name.

Biotech Fluidics can deliver the Intuitive™ connection system as pre-mounted components in ready-made kits, allowing you to save time and effort at your assembly station. Contact us to learn more or check out the product page linked below.