Efficacy of a Washing Machine for Small Volume Glass Vial Used in Pharmaceutical Analysis

Abstract

The dimension of a small volume glass vial (SGVs) used with auto-injector HPLC for Pharmaceutical analysis is 3.5 cm. height, 0.6 cm. in diameter and 1.5 ml in volume. Washing process of such vials takes a lot of time and consumes much water and solvent. This study was to design and construct a washing machine which is time saving and economical. The time and amount of water and detergent, used in both manual and semi-automatic washing process were recorded. The main components of the washing machine were high pressure pump, time controller and reservoir of detergent, water, and distilled water. After fitting 40 used SGVs with the machine, the washing process was started. Fitstly, the water was pumped to wash SGVs prior to wash by the detergent solution. The rinsing process was automatically performed by water and distilled water. Finally the vial was blown and dried with air pump system. The data showed that the washing machine gave high efficiency. One cycle of washing process (40 vials) consumed less than 1 minute and required only a few liters of water and detergent solution. While manual process took longer times in immersing overnight, 25 minutes in washing and consumed 100 liters of water. The solvate of residue from washed SGV was injected to HPLC. It was indicated that there is no contamination of residue which was left in washed SGV from both methods.