Scientz-18N Freeze Dryer

This instrument is widely available online. We bought it as a replacement for our failed Labconco N25, and it certainly took up all the duties and outperformed the old one. After about half a year of use, we are all very happy with its performance. The standard configuration is a single-stage -40C cold trap, but there is an option to upgrade to a dual stage, -80C trap. We opted for the upgrade, and things worked out perfectly. We could take out prep-HPLC fractions (contained up to 20% acetonitrile) without problem. The instrument has a high capacity cold trap, and the compressor is very quiet (compared with what we had before). The vacuum pump is not the quietest, but it certainly provided plenty of ultimate vacuum and draw volume. There is a touch screen to show the instrument status and do basic controls. Cold trap and sample temperature (via a wire probe placed near the sample) as well as chamber pressure are monitored. It is possible to download the log (temperatures, pressure, startup/shutdown events) to USB drive, too. There is a solenoid valve in the instrument that will vent the chamber when the user stops the machine. The instrument has multiple possible configurations regarding to how the sample(s) are introduced, we opted for a simple 8-port acrylic bell. They provide valves, adapters, and heavy-duty flasks with the instrument and they all have very good qualities. The one issue we had was the user manual---it was apparently verbatim-translated from its Chinese version. There would be some guessing game on what the manual actually wanted to say. Luckily there weren't much extraordinary things and mostly could be figured out from the touchscreen without the manual.

Review Date: 12 Apr 2019 | Ningbo Scientz Biotechnology Co., Ltd.