The German cleanroom show Lounges had a successful event this year with more than 290 companies exhibiting products and services and more than 8,000 visitors attending. Bookings for the 2018 event are in full swing, says the organiser Inspire GmbH, with over 100 companies having rebooked already. Lounges 2018 will take place on 6-8 February and moves back to Karlsruhe, where the event first started.
The show has faced new competition in recent years from other events, and so the organiser Inspire GmbH is looking to improve its offering and reach. As a result, it has launched an additional event “Lounges on Tour”, which will move “wherever their customers are”, thus the dates and location wil change every year.
These events will have their own name – e.g., Cleanroom Experience Expo and Pharma Experience Expo – and the first will take place on 17-18 October at the Fraport Forum, Frankfurt.
This year, Lounges hosted a mini-event within Lounges in which the companies Dastex, Pfennig and CCI got together to present The Darkzone. This comprised a series of active and visual presentations in a blacked-out theatre area. Contamination-illuminating light devices were used to show particulate contamination on various surfaces before and after different cleaning techniques.
In this way, the presenters were able to demonstrate the importance of good cleaning techniques and how to avoid cross contamination during many normal operations in the cleanroom. They also demonstrated the effectiveness of various consumables, such as wipes, mop head covers and other cleaning devices.
Innovations on show
With Germany’s strong engineering background, many of the exhibits focussed on hygienic vessels, tanks and piping solutions. Bolz Intec, for example, marketed “the highest quality barrel in the world”. The GMP-compliant lid barrels are butt welded, without crevices, seam rolled and finely ground inside and outside. They are easy to clean and absolutely residue-free. They are also surface ground or electropolished for optimum product discharge from Ra up to <0.25µm.
In addition to materials such as 1.4301, 1.4404 stainless steel, Bolz Intec now offers drums for extreme conditions in Hastelloy (2.4602/C22 nickel alloy). Widely used in the aerospace industry, Hastelloy C22 is more resistant to acids such as sulphur, phosphorus, nitric acid, chlorine dioxide and other highly corrosive products compared to high quality stainless steels.
M+W showed its specialised filter products for catalytic conversion of hydrogen peroxides (H2O2). The Bioreset H2O2 generators family is marketed as the answer to the strict quality and safety standards in pharma and biotech production. The systems enable efficient application of gaseous, non-condensing H2O2 for highly flexible decontamination strategies.
The generators are based on an open system design and are controllable and readable via Modbus protocols. The Bioreset-smart can be used directly in the environment to be gassed and does not require any process connections into the cleanroom area to be decontaminated. The systems comes in various complexities from Bioreset basic, plus and the pro.
The ISU 1.0 from Ortner
Ortner showed its Interactive Superinduce Unit (ISU 1.0), a small but powerful H2O2 generator system. It can network or combine with different systems or devices.
Due to the adjustable volume flows of up to 100m3/h and the process diversity, decontamination can be achieved via nozzle and ventilation systems and over long distances. It is suitable for room volumes of up to 50m3.
On the consumables side Pure11 introduced its nitrile glove AceClean TACKY, which it describes as extremely clean (because the material is refined several times), uniquely flexible, highly tear resistant and free of vulcanisation accelerators or latex proteins. The company says it has a tight-fitting cuff and provides excellent grip.
For details about next year's show visit: www.expo-lounges.de