Henk Janse is Erasmus Medical Center coordinator, Laboratory Management, and Cor den Besten is Erasmus Medical Center technical coordinator, Department of Clinical Chemistry.
Q: Why does an institution such as Erasmus Medical Center require large volumes of pure and ultrapure water?
A: The Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam is the largest hospital in The Netherlands, with 13,000 employees, a children’s hospital and a full medical faculty. We have more than 25 laboratories for research and patient care. That translates to a strong need for the best equipment to produce pure and ultrapure water for a variety of applications.
Q: Why did Erasmus Medical Center choose EMD Millipore lab water purification equipment? What systems are used, and why?
Figure 1 – Elix systems from EMD Millipore.A: We selected EMD Millipore’s products because we had established a solid relationship with EMD Millipore over the span of years, and we had full confidence for further cooperation and reliability of their product lines in the new building. Also, a portion of our equipment was due for replacement or expansion. For clinical water purification purposes, we selected EMD Millipore’s Elix systems (see Figure 1) (specifically, the Elix 10, Elix 70 and Elix 100). For producing ultrapure water at the medical center, we use Milli-Q Reference, Milli-Q Advantage A10 and Milli-Q Integral systems (see Figure 2).
Figure 2 – EMD Millipore’s Milli-Q Integral system.Q: How does Erasmus Medical Center provide scientists with access to its EMD Millipore pure or ultrapure lab water—for example, are there on-demand taps, faucets, vessels or distribution loops? Is it possible to transport the pure water in containers? Can the water be stored for periods of time once it is purified?
A: We do not transport the water in containers. It is not wise to store water once it is purified, certainly not ultrapure water. The quality goes down rapidly. To reduce any risks to quality, we chose a unique system for each laboratory that is available on demand right near the laboratory. We have one system on the 9th floor of the medical center that is used by three laboratories, including one on the 10th floor. This system uses a closed system to pump the water around between the two floors, making it readily accessible to users on both floors.
Q: Is there a maintenance protocol associated with keeping EMD Millipore lab water consistently pure and readily accessible? Does EMD Millipore offer customer support?
A: Yes, EMD Millipore provides a maintenance protocol and plenty of customer support, with which we are very pleased.
Q: Can you provide a few examples of how EMD Millipore pure and ultrapure lab water is used in clinical chemistry laboratories? How does it help facilitate research?
A: According to Cor den Besten within the Department of Clinical Chemistry at Erasmus Medical Center, “The clinical chemistry laboratory uses a closed system for water purification that is connected to a few auto-analyzers from Roche. This is maintained as a continuous 24/7 operating system that is unique to the clinical chemistry laboratory’s analyzers and the lab’s researchers. We have two of the same purification systems to provide a good backup. We use Elix 100 systems connected to a storage unit and a loop system to the analyzers. For our research unit, we use a Milli-Q Integral 10 system to provide the ultrapure water for our LC and LC/MS systems.”
Q: What defining points ultimately contributed to Erasmus Medical Center’s decision to use EMD Millipore lab water throughout its facility?
A: In January of 2009, EMD Millipore was contacted by Erasmus Medical Center with the prospect of equipping laboratories on eight floors of the medical center with pure and ultrapure water. From the very beginning, EMD Millipore investigated the users’ needs pertaining to water quantity and quality, as well as current and future applications of pure and ultrapure lab water. There was a debate between having a centralized and a decentralized system. EMD Millipore conducted five days of thorough on-site visits to the old buildings at Erasmus Medical Center, and estimated that the actual use of pure water would be about 4000 liters per day. This volume was far less than the 15,000 liters per day that had been suggested by another firm—and it was found to meet every single application throughout all the laboratories on floors one through eight. Not only did EMD Millipore conduct excellent on-site evaluations, but they demonstrated that a decentralized water purification system was the best choice for users and efficiency.