Effective Surface Sterilisation/Decontamination of Freeze Drying Equipment

SP Scientific has partnered with Bioquell to produce an off-the-shelf surface sterilisation/decontamination system for SP freeze dryers.

The freeze drying production of many pharmaceuticals and biological materials requires sterile conditions. Traditionally, freeze dryers have used steam for sterilization. Unfortunately working with steam means that the freeze dryers are exposed to many different stresses and strains. SP Scientific, in conjunction with Bioquell, have developed an equally effective and less expensive solution to perform surface sterilization/decontamination of freeze dryers using hydrogen peroxide vapor (HPV).

HPV is well established as a biodecontamination agent due to its broad spectrum efficacy and its ability to inactivate rapidly the most resilient micro-organisms. The residue-free nature of HPV (breaks down to oxygen and water vapor) and low temperature, vapor-phase application increases the practicality of the process. Bioquell’s HPV technology has been tested and proven effective against many organisms including bacteria, bacterial endospores, viruses, bacteriophage, fungi, nematodes and protozoa.

Surface sterilisation/decontamination using the HPV system is remarkably quick enabling fast turnaround of your freeze dryer for further work. Typically lab-scale freeze dryers can be sterilized in just 1–2 hours, pilot-scale freeze dryers in 2–3 hours and production-scale freeze dryers in less than 4 hours. The HPV system is easy-to-use and simply integrated with your SP Scientific freeze dryer without need for excessive external piping or critical utilities that are commonly required to support steam sterilisers.