An Automated Liquid Handling Strategy for Beverages Based on Sample Viscosity

This application note describes the impact of flow rate used to aspirate the liquid, and the inner diameter of the probe used to transfer the liquid, when transferring liquids of varying viscosity such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), milk, orange juice and apple juice. Performing manual liquid handling procedures in the laboratory is commonplace. It is often necessary to automate these procedures when a laboratory faces an increase in the numbers of samples requiring processing. Transitioning from a manual to an automated process can be especially challenging for liquids of different viscosities (viscosity is defined as the resistance of a fluid to shear motion). Liquids with a higher or lower viscosity compared to water may require different liquid handing parameters in order to optimize the automated method.