Glove Box Fume Hood
A Glove Box Fume Hood is a specialized laboratory device that combines features of a glove box and a fume hood to provide enhanced containment and safety for handling hazardous or sensitive materials. Below is a concise overview based on available information:
Key Features and Functions:
- Purpose: Designed for containment of highly toxic or sensitive materials, such as Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Highly Potent APIs (HPAPIs), or air-sensitive substances. It protects the operator, the environment, and the materials being handled.
- Containment: Unlike a standard fume hood, which primarily extracts hazardous fumes via ventilation, a glove box fume hood is a sealed enclosure with glove ports, offering a higher level of containment (e.g., below 30 ng/m³ for certain processes).
- Airflow: Equipped with HEPA filters for laminar airflow, often meeting ISO 5 cleanliness standards. It can feature dual HEPA filtration for both inlet and exhaust, ensuring a clean internal environment and safe air recirculation or exhaust.
- Design: Typically includes transparent panels (e.g., acrylic, glass, or static-dissipative PVC), glove ports for manipulation, and transfer ports (e.g., airlocks or RTP ports) to move materials without breaking containment.
- Applications: Used for handling hazardous chemicals, biological samples, or air-sensitive materials in industries like pharmaceuticals, oncology, and research. It supports equipment like balances, ovens, and FTIR within the enclosure.
Glove Box vs. Fume Hood
- Fume Hood: An open system that extracts toxic vapors, gases, or aerosols via ventilation, primarily protecting the operator. Suitable for processes with a Time-Weighted Average (TWA) exposure value above 400 ppm. Not ideal for highly hazardous substances or closed-system requirements.
- Glove Box: A sealed, enclosed system that protects the operator, product, and environment. Ideal for processes requiring a controlled atmosphere (e.g., inert gas like nitrogen or argon) or handling highly toxic substances with TWA below 1 ppm.
- Glove Box Fume Hood: Combines the sealed containment of a glove box with advanced filtration and exhaust systems of a fume hood. It can operate under negative pressure to protect operators or positive pressure to protect samples, offering versatility for applications like HPAPI processing or biohazard containment.
Specific Features
- Filtration: Often includes HEPA or ULPA filters for particulate removal (down to 0.3 microns) and optional carbon filters for additional protection against gases or vapors.
- Materials: Constructed from materials like stainless steel, polypropylene, or acrylic, chosen based on chemical compatibility and application needs (e.g., static-dissipative PVC for static control).
- Customization: Options like double-safe waste chutes, continuous liners, or gas purification systems for inert atmospheres (e.g., <1 ppm H₂O and O₂) are available.
- Safety: Third-party testing confirms containment levels, and features like negative pressure blowers or leak-tight barriers ensure operator safety.
Use Cases
- Pharmaceuticals: Handling APIs, HPAPIs, or compounding non-hazardous drugs in a sterile environment.
- Biological Research: Safe manipulation of pathogens or sensitive biological samples.
- Inert Atmosphere Work: Processing air-sensitive materials (e.g., hygroscopic or pyrophoric substances) under nitrogen or argon.
Leading Glove Box Fume Hood manufacturer
Companies like Accumax India offer glove box fume hoods with customizable configurations. For example,Accumax India provides systems with <1 ppm H₂O/O₂ environments with HEPA/ULPA filtration.
