The EZ-2 personal evaporator from Genevac has an inert gas purge module and is a proven system for safely removing highly-flammable liquids that may form an explosive mixture with air.
The EZ-2 can safely remove most organic solvents without forming an explosive mixture of organic vapour and air.
However, to meet the requirements of the Atex directives relating to safe removal of highly-flammable solvent vapours, it is now mandatory to use an evaporator such as the EZ-2 with inert gas purge module.
To eliminate the risk of forming explosive organic vapour/air mixtures, the inert gas purge option purges the air from the evaporator using an inert gas prior to commencing the evaporation process.
It is at the beginning of the evaporation process where most risk of explosion exists.
The inert gas purge unit is supplied with a key switch enabling the laboratory manager to lock the system thereby forcing all users to use the facility.
The inert gas purge option can also be useful where an inert atmosphere is required to help protect dry samples from moisture and/or oxygen exposure at the end of the evaporation process.
The inert gas purge module controls gases entering the evaporator, therefore, at the end of the evaporation process, instead of releasing the vacuum by letting air into the chamber, inert gas is introduced instead.
The inert gas atmosphere is then maintained until the user opens the system to claim dry samples.
