As every research scientist knows, running a lab isn’t cheap. And laboratory research runs up costs beyond what you see on budget line-items. Labs send enormous volumes of single-use plastics (e.g., pipette tips, agar plates, tubes, and flasks) to landfills. In terms of both budget constraints and controlling greenhouse gas emissions, it’s clear that improving lab efficiency—while maintaining biosafety, methodological integrity, and the highest-quality work—should be a top priority in modern research labs.

In 2023, researchers from the U.K. and The Netherlands published a study titled Re-use of laboratory utensils reduces CO2 equivalent footprint and running costs. The investigators focused their research on four types of single-use plastic items commonly used for mammalian cell and bacterial culture. They found that “re-use scenarios resulted in substantial reduction in CO2e footprint up to 11-fold.” Both production and high-temperature incineration of used plastics contribute heavily to greenhouse gas emissions. A shift to re-usable materials is an important step toward containing monetary costs and promoting sustainability.

Equipment Choices Matter

To analyze energy usage in their re-use scenarios, the researchers assumed a three-step process necessary to effectively clean and sterilize reusable items:

1. washing
2. sterilization
3. drying

They assumed washing relied on an energy efficient lab glassware washer in a standard cycle, with no drying cycle. For autoclaving, they based their calculations on a direct steam generation Priorclave SH450. (In that configuration, that means water consumption of 0.402 m3 and an electricity consumption of 64.375 kWh). Equipment drying was assumed to take place in a fan-assisted, high efficiency 425 L drying cabinet.

Leading the Way Toward More Sustainable Research

We are pleased that the investigators chose to use Priorclave equipment as their baseline. Supporting innovative research and maximizing efficiency is at the heart of our business. This includes planning and building our machines to perform at the highest level. We deliver products that are efficient by design—not “green” by virtue of after-market add-ons, manipulated settings, or clever accounting around idealized use cases.

Our machines can be fully customized to meet your needs. But even our standard models are built with sustainability in mind. Our non-jacketed autoclaves use no water when sitting idle. In a year of standard research usage, a single EH320 saves its lab around 86,000 gallons of water and about 18,200 kWh of electricity.

Every Priorclave autoclave comes standard with our advanced fully programmable control system, Biomaster® protected antimicrobial surface coatings, free lifetime technical support, and a low-energy/low-water easy-maintenance design optimized to minimize lifetime operating costs.

Our Goal is Helping You Reach Yours

Priorclave is committed to providing educators, researchers, and innovators around the globe with the reliable, efficient, safe, affordable equipment you deserve—and the support you need to achieve your research goals.

Are you ready to make your lab more efficient? Reach out to Priorclave today—let our autoclave experts answer your questions and set you on the path to sustainability.