"In traditional air vacuum applications, architects and engineers will install a central vacuum system to which everyone in the facility has access," said Ouimet. "However, if the system goes down, the entire building goes down with it. Also, there is always the risk of cross-contamination and reaction of incompatible products within the central vacuum lines. With the PIAB Lab-Vac, operations can continue even if one vacuum pump fails and the danger of contamination and incompatible product mixing is eliminated." With central systems, there is also the concern of maintenance people who are understandably reticent to clean out the system because toxic materials get caught in them. If this happens, the facility is again faced with the downtime of an entire system rather than a single stage vacuum pump.
Despite air's obvious advantages, Ouimet estimates that 98 percent of all applications in both Canada and the U.S. that can potentially use air are using water.
"In my opinion, every lab at every university using water for their vacuum applications is wasting a valuable resource," he said. "Even at our university, we still have a tremendous volume of water flowing through our laboratories and research facilities. However, we've stepped up our efforts to reduce consumption—a commitment we'd like to see other facilities share."
Vacuum systems like PIAB's have demonstrated significant energy- and dollar-saving potential. They also contribute to the reduction of organic solvents entering the wastewater stream, which is presently a significant issue. In fact, given the increased drive towards "green" laboratories and energy-efficient lab design, these systems can be a breath of fresh air.