Nitrogen Generation At Racing Analytical Services Limited with PEAK Scientific
For every testing lab, minimized downtime and maximized productivity is critical. That’s why Racing Analytical Services Limited in Australia have opted for increased reliability with PEAK's i-FlowLab on-site nitrogen generation system, allowing them to meet the recent growth in demands for their services.
Racing Analytical Services Limited (RASL) is Australia’s largest independent drug testing laboratory, with over 55 employees and 24 mass spectrometry (MS) instruments. RASL provides full drug testing services for equine, canine and human samples processing over 60,000 samples per annum and is the only racing laboratory in Australia with NATA accredited methods for recombinant human EPO in equine and canine samples. RASL acts as a referee laboratory for other Australian and global laboratories in the UK, France, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand.
Left to right: Nicole Pendini, Country Manager AUS & NZ at PEAK Scientific, with Stewart Willers, Technical Operations Manager at RASL
Analytical MS and sample preparation equipment require high purity, consistent and reliable nitrogen gas supply. PEAK Scientific recently upgraded the entire reticulated gas system at RASL to ensure their current and future on-site gas requirements would be satisfied.
Name: Stewart Willers
Job title:Technical Operations Manager
Company: Racing Analytical Services Limited (RASL)
Location: Melbourne, Australia
What is RASL’s primary focus?
Our primary focus is testing of prohibited pharmaceutical agents in the urine or bloods of equine and canines. We perform these analyses with mass spectrometry equipment from Shimadzu, Agilent Technologies, Sciex and Thermo. The samples are prepared with Solvent evaporation, sample concentration and Solid-Phase extraction (SPE) robots from Hamilton and Biotage.
What prompted you to choose an i-Flow Nitrogen generator and how long has it been supplying gas to your laboratory?
We chose the i-FlowLab specifically as it could be upgraded as our needs grew. The initial nitrogen generator purchase was 2016 and began with 4 pairs of carbon molecular sieve (CMS) cartridges/ banks. The i-FlowLab has been upgraded to 10 CMS banks and supplying the additional capacity and purity needed for our sample preparation and analytical equipment.
What has been the key benefit of introducing i-FlowLab into your facility as opposed to your previous gas supply solution?
The main benefit of the PEAK i-FlowLab nitrogen gas generator in 2016 was that it could provide the desired flow, pressure and purity reliably, with good customer support. For the most recent upgrade, we are no longer reliant on supplementary gas supply (such as cylinders or liquid nitrogen). PEAK were able to upgrade the entire system from compressor, dryers and inline filtration so now I don’t have to continually monitor our supply.
How was your purchasing and installation experience with PEAK?
The purchasing experience was excellent. Our local Country Manager even went as far as to draw the desired layout to ensure a solution could be designed to fit within the existing space. The installation went smoothly due to this level of attention to detail. PEAK work seamlessly with our chosen pipework provider to have installed with tight spatial and time constraints.
What has been the impact of the upgraded system and i-FlowLab on your productivity?
The laboratory productivity can now increase as there is a more reliable supply of nitrogen. Without the plant upgrade, we would not be able to continue to grow.
How would you describe your experience regarding [PEAK Protected] service support?
We have had site visits from PEAK engineers to carry out preventative maintenance. The experience from my point of view has been quite positive. There is frequent communication between the PEAK service co-ordinator, the engineer and myself. This ensures everyone can plan for the outage and manage expectations about the length of downtime.
Would you recommend PEAK for reticulated Nitrogen and air solutions and why?
I would gladly recommend PEAK and the i-FlowLab gas generator to other laboratories. The expected result of the most recent upgrade has been exceeded and could not have run more smoothly. PEAK understands the needs of our laboratory and the customer service both before the sale and technical support after installation proves to me that PEAK and their staff are great to use as a service provider. I have the utmost confidence that they will be available whenever I may need their assistance.
PEAK Scientific works closely with the world’s leading mass spectrometry manufacturers to ensure the correct flow rate, purity and pressure of nitrogen gas is delivered to each instrument when you need it most.
i-FlowLab offers flexibility to increase nitrogen gas production capacity with the possibility of system expansion if lab demands continue to grow, thanks to its unique expandable design, allowing additional CMS columns to be added after installation. This means that i-FlowLab provides users with adjustability and does not restrict nitrogen generation to a fixed capacity should the future needs of a lab change.
Consistent high purity nitrogen gas is another important factor when performing analyses of prohibited pharmaceutical agents. With an i-FlowLab nitrogen generator, RASL were able to have the desired flow, pressure and purity available 24/7. A complete laboratory solution for on-site nitrogen generation, i-FlowLab delivers a continuous supply of high-purity nitrogen gas (up to 99.999%) at adjustable pressure points to meet the varying needs of your lab.
As Stewart Willers points out, preventive maintenance is also part of what we do at PEAK Scientific, granting you the peace of mind of having your nitrogen generator operating to its full potential. Having a global network of field service engineers, with a [PEAK Protected] service contract, an engineer will be at your lab within 72 hours, no matter where you are located in Australia.
An i-FlowLab nitrogen generator offers a fully integrated gas supply for labs, by cutting down on additional costs and providing a source of high-purity nitrogen gas. Convenient, economical and reliable, i-FlowLab is a complete and expandable nitrogen generation solution able to meet growing demands of every lab.
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