Industry efforts to reduce our carbon footprint have spawned a lot of “sustainable” promises. All too often, these prove to be little more than sales pitches with a heavy coat of green paint. It’s important to take a critical look at these claims, and determine when “eco-friendly” and “sustainable” features actually aren’t. If a manufacturer says a feature is “eco-friendly,” they should have the data to prove it.

In some cases, the “eco-friendly” design might offer some reduction in resource use but not be a very good idea. For example, some manufacturers tout smaller autoclaves as saving water via recirculation: they capture the condensate from the sterilization process and re-use it for the next cycle. The problem with this seemingly efficient feature is that many labs have fairly “dirty” processes: they are sterilizing dirt or frequent waste loads, or have the occasional boil-over when preparing growth media. In a recirculating autoclave, any debris that escapes the load is picked up and concentrated in the reused water. This wreaks havoc on plumbing in short order. In addition, if you run your autoclave relatively infrequently (once a day or less), that reservoir of warm, stagnant water can breed legionella and other pathogens.

On larger autoclaves, an “eco-friendly” model is usually the exact same autoclave design as their standard models, but programmed to idle cold (instead of warm, as it was originally designed to do) or to more precisely control cold-water bleeds to cool effluent.

These are good measures, but basically the same as putting a spoiler on an SUV: yes, it does improve the efficiency, but not nearly enough to compensate for a fundamentally wasteful design.

Priorclave Autoclaves: Sustainable by Design

Priorclave North America designs for reliability and efficiency from the ground up. That means non-jacketed autoclaves with in-chamber heating elements, low water consumption, and other energy- and resource-efficient features as standard practice—there are no tacked-on greenwashing solutions, because the features are already built in.

Every Priorclave autoclave comes standard with our advanced fully programmable control system, free lifetime technical support, and a low-energy/low-water easy-maintenance design optimized to minimize lifetime operating costs. In addition, Priorclave offers one of the most robust warranties in the industry. Our 36-month/10,000 cycle (whichever comes first) parts-and-labor warranty covers all core components and every operating feature.  We furnish parts from our Michigan warehouse, and provide service via our international network of factory-certified authorized service agents.

Priorclave Features Backed by Research

The University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) recently finalized a study examining the efficiency of same-size autoclaves. They ran the same cycles on adjacent machines, measuring standard Priorclave machines built for sustainability head-to-head against traditional jacketed autoclaves outfitted with their manufacturer’s “eco” features and running with all “eco-saving” modes engaged.

The researchers found that, on average, UAB’s jacketed (non-Priorclave) autoclaves used between 44 and 50 gallons of water per sterilization cycle. The corresponding non-jacketed (Priorclave) machines used less than 2 gallons per cycle, regardless of cycle type. While the jacketed autoclaves consumed 25 to 41 pounds of house steam per cycle, the Priorclave machines used no house steam, because Priorclave autoclaves generate their own steam using an electrical in-chamber heater to convert a portion of the cycle water to steam. The investigators found significant cost savings corresponding to resource usage.

Put Your Dollars to Work for You—and the Planet—With Priorclave

Our goal is to provide educators, researchers, and innovators around the globe with the equipment they deserve: Reliable. Flexible. Programmable. Affordable. Safe. But most importantly, we want them to have the support they need to get their work done.

Your lab equipment dollars are precious. Make the most of them by selecting autoclaves that run efficiently and reliably as designed, without corporate greenwashing promises that don’t live up to Priorclave’s high standard. Contact us today to discuss your lab’s needs. Our team of experts looks forward to speaking with you and answering your questions.