A centrifuge tube is a container filled with a substance to be analyzed. They were developed to mount a centrifuge, a laboratory device that spins a sample at high speeds to separate the material in it. Many laboratory processes require the help of a centrifuge, and the tubes are designed to fit perfectly, keeping the centrifuge balanced and in place during rotation.

Main uses of centrifugal tubes

A variety of laboratory methods require the use of centrifuges and tubes. Because of the nature of the samples, they are often used in environmental laboratories. The samples they get are usually not clean drinking water, but filled with various materials.

1. Soil samples

Soil analysis has a variety of extraction methods that require combining soil with water or solvents. Thoroughly combining soil with water releases the target analyte from the soil into the water, where it can then be analyzed on the instrument. Often, mixing soil with water makes the solution cloudy and the soil particles too large to be analyzed effectively. Placing the sample in the centrifuge tube and rotating it will pull all the soil material to the bottom of the tube. The water can then be removed from the tube for analysis.

2. Process the sample

Customers in industries such as the chemical or pharmaceutical industries have processes that combine water with other materials. Oil, fuel and other contaminants may be present in the samples they send for analysis. To analyze the water, the analyst must centrifuge the sample. This will result in significant separation of water and other pollutants. Analysts can then collect the water with a straw or syringe, leaving the rest of the material behind.

3. Medical laboratory

Centrifugal tubes are essential for the separation of components in medical laboratories. In blood samples, they can separate organelles from cells and precipitate cells and viruses. Centrifugation is the extraction of an important component of DNA or RNA from a cell.

4. Save your instrument

By using a centrifuge to separate different layers of material, you can extend the life of laboratory equipment. Gas chromatographs, mass spectrometers, and high pressure liquid chromatographs are just a few of the instruments that centrifugal samples can really support. A small sample is injected through a column to separate the target analyte, which is then identified by the instrument's software.

If additional contaminated material is injected into the instrument, you may not be able to identify any analytes in the sample. Contaminants overshadow the analytes you're looking for, so you can't see them. Sometimes the contaminant's particle size is too large to pass through the column and can cause severe clogging and pressure fluctuations.

Laboratory instruments are expensive, and analysts must do what they can to protect them from harmful samples. Centrifugal tubes are key to maintaining the health of the equipment and therefore to increasing productivity.