Case Studies |
A total water purification solution boosts clinical laboratory performance
"The Elix Clinical system continues to supply constant high quality pure water in all situations and at no additional cost." Dr. Bertrand Thébault, owner and manager of Laboratoire Thébault, on his successful move to an Elix® Clinical water purification system to feed his Hitachi® 917 analyzer. |
Water is a key factor in the clinical laboratory.
Consistent pure water quality is essential to ensure good results from clinical analyzer systems and to comply with the norms and guidelines of regulatory bodies such as the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute™ (CLSI™). To meet these needs, today’s clinical laboratories require a whole water purification solution that not only offers a reliable, consistent source of pure water, but also provides traceability and predictable, economical running costs.
Family-founded more than fifty years ago, Laboratoire Thébault is a clinical laboratory located in Choisy-le-Roi near Paris, France. The laboratory uses several analyzers for biology analyses routinely prescribed for patients who are covered by France’s health maintenance organization, the Sécurité sociale. In addition to walk-in clients, the laboratory performs analyses for contract research organizations (CROs), the pharmaceutical research bodies responsible for clinical trials.
According to owner Dr. Bertrand Thébault, “We have always needed pure water to feed and clean the analyzers, reconstitute reagents and wash glassware.” Previously he relied on reverse osmosis technology and ion exchange resin cartridges, which resulted in frequent quality dips. Following an audit by an external organization, he began purchasing bottled water. This solved the quality issue, but not without significant expense due to the large volume of water required.
Now the laboratory has switched to Millipore’s Elix 70 Clinical water purification system. This system combines pretreatment, reverse osmosis and Millipore’s patented Elix electrodeionization module, in which ion exchange resins are regenerated continuously. Along with constant pure water quality, the electrodeionization module also ensures reduced operating and maintenance costs—with this system, there is no need to replace saturated ion exchange resins on a regular basis. “Today we experience consistent water quality and easily meet the needs for all functions that require pure water. Although our water consumption increased when we added a second analyzer, the Elix system continues to supply constant high quality pure water in all situations and at no additional cost,” remarks Dr. Thébault.
Millipore’s electrodeionization process, which operates on a continuous basis, is key to final water quality consistency. |
He continues, “Our work for pharmaceutical customers involves regular audits and requires continuous traceability. In our quality procedures, we track all the reagents used as well as any replacement parts for the analyzers. Pure water is the same as any reagent so we monitor it with the same care. With the Elix system, traceability is no longer a problem because the system measures all of my pure water parameters and lets me print out the information when I need it.
The Elix Clinical system uses tap water as feed. Compared with our previous water purification system that required approximately four liters of tap water to produce one liter of pure water, the Elix system has cut our tap water expenses in half. Today, we only need two liters of tap water to produce one liter of pure water. The savings are significant.”
| Electrodeionization prevents the type of variations in water quality that occur in systems using conventional resins, which are exhausted before replacement |
Dr. Thébault says, “Since the system was installed, the only maintenance required has been the replacement of two purification cartridges. I find the system’s service messages very helpful— we’re notified of the need to change a purification cartridge 15 days before the actual date. This allows us to organize our work and plan the pack change at a time that suits us best.”
In conclusion, everyone in the laboratory is very pleased with the Elix Clinical water purification system. “The pure water produced fully meets our requirements with a level of quality over and above our daily needs. Plus, the system’s traceability gives me the peace of mind that I’ve been looking for ”, summarizes Dr. Thébault.
| Replacing conventional resin cartridges by electrodeionization significantly reduces running costs, especially for larger analyzers or those consuming significant quantities of water (feed water quality: 600 μS/cm at 25 °C). |
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