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Storing your chemistry safely in your laboratory – Part 2

Chemical storage in the Laboratory

Storing chemistry in ducted storage cabinets and working with ducted fume hoods, with full external ventilation, can deliver very high running/energy costs.

Solution

Placing a commercial air purifier combined with ductless filtered chemical storage cabinets provide very high energy savings.

Combining both an Erlab HALO-P Air Purifier and the range of Erlab Captair Store ductless filtering chemical storage cabinets contain powerful molecular filters that are capable to retain the chemical vapours respectively from the lab room and from the storage cabinets and recirculate very clean air into the room, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The storage cabinets can be placed anywhere near the chemists, in both combinations of floor standing, under the bench or over the bench.  They are easily installed with connection to an electrical socket to operate.

Multiple chemists work in a lab and one of the main focuses is to protect them from inhaling chemicals.

A safe practice inside the laboratory room is to limit the quantities of chemicals stored inside the lab.  It is suggested to store no more than what the laboratory uses/needs over a 2-3 week period.

Chemical storage in a Store Room

A common and traditional method of storing chemicals in a store room is utilising safety storage cabinets.  There a many different types of safety cabinets.  The main types are Flammable storage cabinets or Corrosive storage cabinets.

The purpose of a flammable storage cabinet is to isolate, for a certain period of time, flammable and explosive chemicals stored within the cabinet from a fire happening in the room, allowing time for the fire to be extinguished.

Flammable storage cabinets that meet EN 14470-1 & 2 standard, can accommodate any chemical containers: 30mn, 60mn or 90mn.

Flammable storage cabinets that meet NFPA 30 standard are suited for storing chemical safety cans only.  No glass bottles.  10mn.

The purpose of a corrosive storage cabinet is the material of construction of the cabinet shall resist aggressive, non-flammable chemicals.

Corrosive cabinets are resistant to sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, nitric acid etc.  Recommended materials are PE, PP, galvanized steel with epoxy coating etc.

Solution

Combining both an Erlab HALO-C Air Purifier and storage cabinets fitted with Erlab Chemtrap filtration boxes, provide the storeroom with an air purified solution using a powerful molecular filter capable to clean permanently fugitive chemical vapours, which recirculates clean air back into the storage room, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Coupled with storage cabinets fitted with Erlab Chemtrap filtration boxes which also use a powerful molecular filter, capable of retaining all the chemical vapours escaping from the storage cabinets and which also recirculate clean air back into the storage room 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.