ChargePoint marketing manager Ben Wylie says: ‘The ChargePoint BIO overcomes issues with traditional methods of transfer where there is a brief time period prior to docking the device during which the mating faces (or in worst case, the product itself) are exposed to the production environment – potentially becoming contaminated in the process.’
The Liverpool-based supplier of containment valves and integrated material handling equipment for the pharmaceutical, chemical, food and other process-based industries, says the two-stage operation involves steam cleaning in place (SIP) of the active half of the valve, including assurance that the ‘ring of concern’ is clean. Vaporised hydrogen peroxide (VHP) is then introduced into a sealed chamber formed between the discs of the two halves of the valve to ensure the critical sealing faces are decontaminated before the transfer.
This new split valve technology helps to limit manual handling and intervention, leading to an increase in sterility confidence. It is also possible to perform multiple, repeated transfers, without the need for continuous SIP steps or re-validation, which makes the ChargePoint BIO suitable for small or large scale production and single batch or continuous processes.
