A lab vacuum pump can be a standard part of your lab setup. Besides, there are many uses for a vacuum pump, from removing liquids from tubes to generating gas flow in chromatography.
However, different types of pumps perform these tasks with varying levels of precision. When deciding which pump to use, it’s essential to consider what you’re trying to accomplish for your lab. This guide will find some common uses for a lab vacuum pump and how they work.
- Creates A Vacuum
You can use a lab vacuum pump, especially KNF pumps, to maintain a vacuum or create one for long periods in a container. There are many potential uses for this, but one everyday use may be removing air from an open liquid container.
This is not the same process as using your home vacuum cleaner to suck up crumbs on the floor. Lab pumps suck out gas molecules, not larger solids like dirt and dust particles. It’s also different from a water pump that pumps out water from places prone to flooding, such as basements.
A lab pump creates a low-pressure environment that allows gases to move out of their current location into another place within the apparatus where they can’t do damage. Instead of sucking water up with suction cups, this machine pushes them back down so there won’t be any flooding anymore.
- Controls Pressure
Although there are many uses of a lab vacuum pump, its ability to control the pressure in a system is particularly important. Controlling pressure by changing the flow of air or other gases through a closed system allows for reactions in a controlled environment. It also allows system testing without danger.
For example, you can use this process to observe how increasing pressure affects the boiling temperature of the water or how increasing pressure will make liquids boil at a lower temperature. This is done by maintaining the same amount of airflow through your system and measuring the results when you modify it.
In summary, a lab vacuum pump can control pressure by changing the flow of air or other gases through a system. The process is beneficial for various purposes, including testing food for quality assurance and observing lab chemical reactions.
- Evacuates A Container
One of the most common uses for a lab vacuum pump is to evacuate a container. Although people often think of air as an inert substance, it can have harmful effects on the contents of a vessel in many laboratory settings. For an industrial vessel, it can affect business health and safety, leading to work downtime and other issues.
You can help maintain the purity and effectiveness of the contents of a container by using a lab vacuum pump to remove all or most of the air within. Removing air from your laboratory vessel also has the added benefit of reducing the number of reactions within it, which may be desirable depending on your goals.
- Purifies A Mixture
A vacuum pump can purify a mixture by taking advantage of the boiling point that different substances have when under pressure. Subjecting a liquid to reduced pressure will decrease its boiling point.
For instance, water boils at 100°C at sea level but only at 52°C in a vacuum chamber. A solution with decreased air pressure will boil much sooner than usual. As each substance evaporates, you’re left with those that remained.
- Improves The Yield Of A Reaction
Labs use lab vacuum pumps to remove unwanted chemicals, vapours, and gases. They’re used in many different experiments and procedures to improve the yield of a reaction. One way to improve a reaction’s yield is by removing unwanted impurities that could affect or contaminate the desired product’s purity.
Many reactions involve higher temperatures. By applying a vacuum during these reactions, you can reduce the chance of thermal decomposition. This is also true for side reactions and product degradation. By removing oxygen, water vapour, and other impurities from the system under high temperatures, you reduce the chance of these undesired reactions or outcomes from happening.
Conclusion
This article has explained how a vacuum pump can play an essential role in your lab. Whether you need to analyse samples, test out reactions in a controlled environment, or distil solutions, a vacuum pump will improve the efficiency of your lab and provide some peace of mind. To ensure you’re getting the best results from your pump, familiarise yourself with its different uses. Furthermore, don’t forget to keep your vacuum pump clean and well maintained if you want it to last longer.
