SPE Instrument

Content
1. What is SPE instrument?
2. SPE instrument application
3. SPE instrument working principle
4. Types of SPE instrument
5. SPE instrument specifications and features
    5.1. Multi-channel SPE instrument
    5.2.Rapid SPE instrument
6. How to use SPE instrument?
7. How to maintain SPE instrument?
8. Precautions for using SPE instrument
9. How to order SPE instrument?

The full name of SPE instrument is solid phase extraction instrument which is an instrument used in the fields of environmental science and technology and resource science and technology. Solid phase extraction equipment is a sample pretreatment technology developed in recent years, developed by the fusion of liquid-solid extraction and column-liquid chromatography technology, mainly used for the separation, purification, and concentration of samples.

SPE instrument is simple to operate, time and effort, and widely used in all kinds of food safety testing, agricultural residue monitoring, medicine and health, environmental protection, commodity inspection, and water and chemical production laboratories.
Environmental industry
SPE instrument has a huge role in the environmental industry, pretreating pesticides and herbicides, oil and grease, PAHs and semi-volatile organics, explosives, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, dioxins, and furans organic pollutants.

Pharmaceutical, natural products industry
Solid phase extraction system can be used in the analysis of active ingredients in liquids, extractable in packaged drinking water, extractable in pharmaceutical packaging, vitamins, and antibiotics, etc.

Life science field
Solid phase extractor can be used in genetic research, large molecule protein pre-treatment, etc.

Forensic field
SPE instruments can also be used for enrichment of residues, screening of toxic substances and other pre-treatment.

Other fields
SPE instruments can be used for tobacco analysis, flavor and fragrance analysis, cosmetics analysis and most of the organic compounds analysis pretreatment, etc.

Solid phase extraction instrument is to use solid sorbent to adsorb the target compounds in liquid samples, separate them from the sample matrix and interfering compounds, and then elute them with eluent or heat to desorb them to achieve the purpose of separating and enriching the target compounds, i.e., the separation, purification and enrichment of samples, to reduce the sample matrix interference and improve the detection sensitivity.
SPE technology is based on the theory of liquid-solid phase chromatography and uses selective adsorption and selective elution to enrich, separate, and purify the sample, which is a physical extraction process including liquid and solid phases and can be approximated as a simple chromatographic process.
Solid phase extraction is a liquid chromatographic separation principle using selective adsorption and selective elution. The more commonly used method is to make the liquid sample through a sorbent, retain the measured substances, then select the appropriate strength solvent to flush out impurities, and then elute the measured substances with a small amount of good solvent, to achieve the purpose of rapid separation and concentration. Can also selectively adsorb interfering impurities, and let the measured material out; or adsorb impurities and measured material at the same time, and then use a suitable solvent to selectively elute the measured material.

SPE instrument classification by usage
* Small volume sample SPE instrument
Small volume samples refer to food, drugs, and other samples, the volume is generally less than 50ml.
* Large volume sample SPE instrument
Large volume samples mainly refer to water samples, generally more than 200ml volume.

SPE instrument classification by principle
* SPE column
SPE column is a sample pre-treatment device developed from chromatographic columns for extraction, separation, and concentration. It is mainly applied to sample pretreatment of target compounds in various food, agricultural, and livestock products, environmental samples, and biological samples.
* Membrane SPE instrument
Membrane extraction is mainly designed for large volume water samples. The speed of membrane extraction is its advantage and it does not clog easily, but the processing cost of individual samples is higher than SPE column.

SPE instrument classification by channel
* Single-channel SPE instrument
* Multi-channel SPE instrument
Usually, the higher the number of channels, the more time can be saved when processing large batches of samples, especially when loading samples.

Features:
1. Multi-channel SPE instrument can be equipped with a large-capacity collection container, which can process samples in batch or individually.
2. The extraction column tray is made of special polymer material, which is beautiful and corrosion resistant and will not be deformed under high pressure for a long time.
3. The internal test tube holder is made of PTFE, so it has high corrosion resistance.

Features:
1. Rapid SPE instrument equipped with vacuum pressure gauge and mounted on the sealed cover for easy observation.
2. Equipped with an independent valve, easy to control, accurate control of flow rate, durable.
3. Made of Plexiglas with uniform wall thickness to prevent cross-contamination.

The following is how to use the solid phase extraction equipment.
Activation
Solid phase extractor extraction is preceded by rinsing the column with a solvent filled column or rinsing the filter membrane with 5-10 ml of solvent to keep the SPE packing wet, because the drying of the packing will reduce the sample retention value, and the varying degree of drying of each column will also affect the reproducibility of the recovery. The packing is first rinsed with a water-soluble organic solvent such as methanol, which wets the adsorbent surface and penetrates into the non-polar silica bonded phase, making the silica more easily wetted by water; then water or buffer is added to rinse, creating an environment compatible with the sample solvent and improving recovery.

Sample loading
①　Adjustment with 0.1 mol/L acid or base to pH=9 and centrifugation to extract the upper layer.
②　Precipitation of proteins with methanol, acetonitrile, etc. and extraction of the supernatant after dilution with water or buffer.
③　Precipitating protein with acid or inorganic salt and then taking the supernatant, adjusting the pH, and then extracting.
④　Add water and buffer after ultrasonication for 15min and take the supernatant for extraction. The flow rate should be controlled to 1ml/min, the fast flow rate is not conducive to the combination of the material to be measured and fixed.

Drenching and washing
The cleaning solvent of reversed-phase SPE is mostly water or buffer, and a small amount of organic solvent, inorganic salt, or pH adjustment can be added to the cleaning solution. The cleaning solution added to the small column should not exceed the volume of a small column, while the SPE filter membrane is 5-10ml.

Elution
5-10 ml of elution solvent with weaker ionic strength but able to wash down the material to be measured should be selected. If higher sensitivity is required, the eluate can be volatilized first and then reconstituted with the mobile phase and then injected into the sample. The in vivo sample contains mostly water after elution, and the freeze-drying method can be used. The weaker retention capacity of SPE packing can be washed down with a small volume of weaker eluent, and the eluate can be analyzed with a more polar HPLC column such as the C18 column.

The maintenance of SPE instruments is as follows.

Replace the inlet spacer regularly
Air leakage from the inlet spacer is a common failure of SPE equipment. After feeding too many times, the sample inlet spacer wears and expands aging, etc., it is easy to leak gas. On the one hand, gas leakage causes loss of carrier gas and waste of resources, on the other hand, the aging and degradation of the spacer can also bring interference to the analysis, such as ghost peaks. Therefore, it needs to be replaced regularly and timely.

Timely cleaning of the injection needle
A clean injection needle can avoid the interference of the sample memory effect. Replace the solid phase extraction instrument samples to clean, with the same sample multiple times into the sample also need to use solvent and sample cleaning injection needle, generally use methanol, dichloromethane, acetonitrile, acetone, and hexane solvent cleaning, cleaning can not block the needle, pull out the push rod, with another injection needle to clean solvent injection, and then insert the push rod to gently push the solvent out of the needle.
To thoroughly clean the inlet needle, generally available in the following solutions to clean, 5% aqueous sodium hydroxide, distilled water, acetone, and then drained, solid phase extraction instrument should not be washed with a strongly alkaline solution. If found in the injection needle stainless steel oxide affects the normal use of the stainless steel core can be dipped in a small amount of soapy water into the injection needle, pull back and forth a few times to remove, and then cleaned to avoid residual samples sticky needle core, resulting in the injection needle scrap.
Intake needle is fragile instruments, and should be used with more care, when not used to wash and store, do not just pump back and forth, especially in the case of dry pull back and forth, otherwise, it will be seriously worn, damage its gas tightness, reduce accuracy.

Regularly check and clean the solid phase extraction instrument inlet and liner
fter long-term use of the inlet liner, because of the residue of non-volatile components in the sample, it will be found that there is a tar-like material in the liner, in addition to the accumulation of particulate matter, such as spacer debris, solid material in the sample, which will interfere with the normal conduct of the analysis. Therefore, it is important to check and clean the sample inlet and liner tube regularly. General cleaning mainly with pure water, methanol or anhydrous ethanol rinse or ultrasonic cleaning, serious pollution can be used to gently wipe the cotton swab, not excessive force to avoid damage to the surface of the active point, and then placed in the oven 70 ℃ dryings, cooling sealed storage can be.

The precautions for the use of SPE apparatus are as follows.
The vacuum pressure supplied to the SPE instrument should not be greater than 0.1Mpa.

The solid phase extraction apparatus column and joints should be installed to fit well. When it is found that the system always fails to reach the set pressure, please check whether the joints are tightened and whether the air pressure cover gasket is flat.

Please make sure that the glass devices are placed properly during operation.

The system is equipped with a 12-branch flow valve switch, when a certain way is not in use, it can be closed to maintain a certain pressure system.
The negative pressure of the system should not exceed -0.09Mpa in general.

If you are interested in our SPE instrument or have any questions, please write an e-mail to info@antiteck.com, we will reply to you as soon as possible.