Pharmaceutical and medical researchers rely on blast freezers to quickly freeze drug products, active ingredients, and biospecimens to extremely low temperatures during R&D storage, transport, or manufacturing.
Today, state-of-the-art liquid nitrogen blast freezers can quick-freeze products, ingredients, and specimens to ultra-low temperatures much faster and with greater control than conventional technology. However, verifying that a unit can handle specific products with the necessary speed of cooling, accuracy, and reliability is crucial prior to purchase.
To help researchers considering a blast freezer to verify that a unit meets their requirements before purchase, Reflect Scientific now offers a trial test run of its product with complete documentation of the results.
“With a test run, you can understand the process inputs and outputs required by your product and blast freezer before finalizing a purchase. You can design the test with any process requirements or restraints, and we will provide you with the results,” says Sheldon Larson, Customer/Product Engineer, Cryometrix Freezer and Chiller Products at Reflect Scientific, Inc., an OEM of cryogenic cooling technologies for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical, and transportation markets.
According to Larson, the experimental test run report, conducted on a B-90 Cryometrix blast freezer with thawing capability, can help researchers determine key data such as:
- Freeze and thaw times of drug substances or drug substance substitutes;
- Estimated liquid nitrogen use during a standard designed batch freeze/thaw cycle; and other items specified during the design stage of the experimental run cycle.
The Cryometrix B-90 blast freezer by Reflect Scientific utilizes safely contained liquid nitrogen at -196°C to freeze products with cooled air. The system is designed so there is no contact between the LN2 and the operator or product, which helps to ensure safety. It can cool product inside from 20°C to -90°C in less than 10 minutes. The temperature is adjustable from +40°C to -90°C, with temperature uniformity of ± 3°C throughout.
To ensure product quality, the B-90 provides state-of-the-art temperature and data logging, which can be easily accessed through a touch screen or downloaded to a computer. The latest software upgrade allows up to 250 users and 8 security levels. Managers can easily control who can open the freezer, change the setpoint, and adjust the setting.
The blast freezer also offers optional rapid thawing capability up to 40°C in the same machine. With this option, the end user does not need two separate machines but can perform both rapid freezing and thawing procedures with one unit.
According to Larson, the experimental test run report typically provides a summary of test results for the duration of freeze and/or thaw cycle, LN2 consumption for the test run, any abnormalities in testing, and suggestions for production level runs.
In addition, an outline is provided of how the test was set up. This includes the location of each thermocouple that gathered data, along with photos and video of the set up and test if desired. Raw data files of all sensors used during the test can also be provided as specified in the experimental test run design.
When researchers need to verify that a blast freezer effectively meets their needs prior to finalizing a purchase, selecting an OEM that offers an experimental test run with its product can provide the evidence-based research needed to make a fully informed buying decision.