FAQ: Chemical Compatibility

We all know oil and water don’t mix. Same goes for acids and bases or this guy and gravity. But what about Kerosene and cellulose acetate? Or Trichloroethylene and silver?

To answer these questions we have our frequently referenced Chemical Compatibility Chart for general laboratory filtration products. Since using the correct filter material is vital to the success of a separation process we are constantly expanding our knowledge base of chemicals used with our filtration products. We currently have data on over 70 chemicals and their recommendation level for filtration materials such as Polycarbonate, Nylon and Teflon.                        

Curious about a chemical that isn’t listed yet? Just ask us about it we’ll be happy to help you out.

Shiny New Sterlitech Website!

It's time! After many months of work, we finally launched the new and improved version of our website last week. On our end, this hopefully means no more agonizing over different fonts and button colors.  For you guys, it should mean a user-friendly layout with more services. If you haven't seen it yet, head on over to www.sterlitech.com to look around, then let us know what you think here. We'll reward some lucky commenters with a Sterlitech mug or t-shirt!

Aside from cleaning up the layout and making things prettier, the new site also has some added features to give you a better experience.

• Better Site Search - We made it easier to find what you are looking for, whether it's a particular product or a technical article. You can also search by SKU to quickly pull up the items you want.   
• Organized Resource Documents - Tables, charts, specifications, and other technical data have been organized by product group to make researching a product or application easier.
• FAQs Matched with Products - Our FAQ's have been pulled into the individual product category tabs so you can get answers without having to go back and forth between pages.     
• Accepting Web Purchase Orders -  We added the ability to accept purchase orders over the web to give our customers more ordering options.

For more detailed information on what's changed, we've also put together this guide at http://www.sterlitech.com/website-guide.html.

Here's hoping you like what we've done so far. Of course we're always open to more changes, so if there's something you'd like to see added or changed, don't be shy about letting us know...

How NOT to Handle Wastewater Discharge

Here’s further evidence that monitoring your company's waste output is something you should probably keep an eye on…

Yesterday the former environmental, health & safety manager for AMCAN Beverages, Inc. (A subsidiary of Coca-Cola) pled guilty to falsifying reports about their plant's wastewater discharge. He now faces up to 3 years in prison and/or upwards of $250,000 in fines for directing employees to dilute wastewater samples before they were sent for off-site testing and then reporting on the tampered results.  

The company was caught when the City of American Canyon’s own wastewater treatment plant staterd experiencing operational problems relating to Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) measurements and began a covert investigation into industrial discharges in the area, leading them to AMCAN.

If only Captain Planet was still around to call on, he'd take pollution down to zero...

Read more details on the case here.

And yes, we do offer plenty of different products for TSS measurements as well as bench scale systems for municipal/industrial waste and wastewater purification.  

Silver Membrane Filters to Collect Wood Dust

A new study by NIOSH found a more effective method for testing occupational exposure to airborne wood dust, which is known to cause cancer. This new practice incorporates silver membrane filters along with a mid-infrared diffuse reflection method for direct on-filter determination of wood dust mass instead of gravimetric analysis and glass fiber filters, creating a more specific test.

To learn more, you can view the article abstract here.

Discount on Water Analysis Filters in March

For the rest of the month we're offering 10% off filters for water analysis! Check out the Sterile MCE Membrane filter as well as the GA-55 and GC-50 Glass Fiber Filters for treating water and wastewater. It's a great opportunity to stock up on any variety of these frequently used models...    

Welcome TriSep to the Sterlitech Family!

Starting this week you can power your process filtration units and membrane test cells with the full line of flat sheet membranes from TriSep Corporation! These membrane elements are designed to provide premium efficiency in water treatment applications. 

What is especially great about this news is that now you can get these membranes in precut sizes to fit the CF042, Sepa CF, and HP4750 membrane test cell (individual sheets are available too)! Performing desalination and wastewater purification just got a lot easier…

See the full announcement here.

EPA Creates 4 New Clean Air Research Centers

Today the Environmental Protection Agency awarded $32 million to 4 universities around the country to study the health impacts of air pollution. These centers will answering questions like, "does air pollution effect a child's learning ability?" "Are obese people more susceptible to health effects of air pollution?" "How does your commute effect your health?"

We work with a number of environmental labs to provide filtration materials, and one of the most common requests we get from them is for our 0.45 micron, 25mm silver membranes to comply with NIOSH methods for testing airborne contaminants such as silica and bromine. 

Here is a breakdown of what the four new centers are focusing on:

• University of Washington - Effects of roadway pollution on on cardiovascular health.
• Michigan State University - The relationships between obesity and air pollution.
• Emory University / Georgia Institute of Technology - Characterize health risks of air pollution mixtures, research how social factors (living location, commute, etc.) impact health. 
• Harvard University - Investigate health effects of short-term and long-term exposure to pollutants on specific health functions, including cognitive function, birth weight, and mortality. 

See also:
"EPA Awards $32 Million to Understand Health Impacts of Air Pollution"

EPA Clean Air Research Centers Home

Bean to Bar at Theo Chocolates

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to mix business with pleasure during an ACS sponsored event at a local chocolate maker. Based out of Seattle, WA, Theo Chocolates, appropriately named after the chocolate bean bearing tree Theobroma cacao, is the only bean-to-bar, organic, fair trade chocolate factory in the USA. After a delicious round of tastings and an insightful tour of the production line, COO Andy McShea gave an interesting lecture on all things chocolate. Did you know that the antioxidant poly-phenols found in dark chocolate are known to lower blood pressure, reduce oral bacteria, and improve cognition? Still need convincing it’s ok to take one more piece?

At this point, you're probably wondering, but what does chocolate have to do with filtration? And you're right, not nearly as much as you’d find in the beverage industry. But Theo, in an effort to maintain its organic product status, uses only essential oils as opposed to extracts to create the sensational, true to flavor tastes its customers have come to enjoy. That’s where filtration comes in to play. Diatomite filtration has been used for decades in the food and beverage industry to produce essential oils for foods. In recent months, we’ve received several inquiries about the use of cross flow filtration for essential oil extraction as well. Science never smelled so sweet (or tasted this good)!



Visit Sterlitech at the ACS Spring 2011 Exposition in Anaheim, March 27th-31: Booth #313

Theo Chocolates are available at Whole Foods nationwide. For more information, visit www.theochocolate.com