Eppendorf White Paper 14 - Manual

Routine Maintenance of Centrifuges
Cleaning, Maintenance and Disinfection of Centrifuges, Rotors and Adapters
Samira Schroeder, Eppendorf AG, Hamburg, Germany
WHITE PAPER No. 14 I April 2013
Executive Summary
In general, handling centrifuges is a safe process, as long
as high quality equipment is used, such as anodized or
PTFE coated aluminum rotors for instance, and the
following conditions are met: the centrifuges and their
equipment are used properly, are in an undamaged
condition and maintained as recommended here.
Prevention from long-term exposure to residues like salts
or aggressive chemicals through routine maintenance by
customers themselves can help to largely avoid extensive
corrosion incidents and to achieve the full lifetime of
equipment. Therefore, instructions how centrifuges and
their equipment can be cleaned, autoclaved, lubricated
and decontaminated by the user himself are presented
here. Finally, information is given in case professional
inspection and certification services are required in labs
with highest safety demands.
Introduction
Centrifuge maintenance, as the name says, is to be
understood as an everyday tool to maintain optimal condition
and safety of laboratory devices. To follow cleaning and
maintenance recommendations is highly important in case of
contamination with salts and chemicals. In case of long-term
exposure aggressive chemicals can develop corrosive spots
on rotors and rotor-buckets, which may constantly grow and
form small holes if ignored (Fig. 1). If small scratches and
cracks are already present on the rotor surface, this further
facilitates corrosion processes as protective coatings are
missing on those spots. In case of advanced corrosion,
rotors or buckets could be damaged in a way that makes
centrifugation processes unsafe. In worst case, damaged
rotors can even lead to a crash. Centrifuges manufactured
according to IEC standards ensure that no harm or damage
will be done to persons or surrounding lab equipment.
However the centrifuge and rotor themselves may be
destroyed. High quality aluminum rotors and rotor-buckets are usually
protected against corrosion caused by commonly-used
laboratory chemicals, for instance by means of an anodized
coating. Nevertheless aggressive chemicals can still damage
the equipment! Such chemicals include concentrated and
mild alkalis, concentrated acids, solutions containing mercury
ions, copper ions and other heavy-metal ions, chlorinated
hydrocarbons, and concentrated saline solutions.
Normally steel rotors are protected against corrosion by
the use of coatings as well, but of course they also require
continuous care.
In addition contact with organic solvents (e. g. phenol,
chloroform) may have an adverse effect on transparent caps
(mainly manufactured from polycarbonate) of aerosol-tight
buckets.