74 1260 Infinity Binary Pump User Manual
4 Using the Pump
Algae Growth in HPLC Systems
Algae Growth in HPLC Systems
The presence of algae in HPLC systems can cause a variety of problems
that may be incorrectly diagnosed as instrument or application problems.
Algae grow in aqueous media, preferably in a pH range of 4- 8. Their
growth is accelerated by buffers, for example phosphate or acetate. Since
algae grow through photosynthesis, light will also stimulate their growth.
Even in distilled water small- sized algae grow after some time.
Instrumental Problems Associated With Algae
Algae deposit and grow everywhere within the HPLC system causing:
• Blocked solvent filters or deposits on inlet or outlet valves resulting in
unstable flow, composition or gradient problems or a complete failure of
the pump.
• Small pore high pressure solvent filters, usually placed before the
injector to plug resulting in high system pressure.
• PTFE frits blockage leading to increased system pressure.
• Column filters to plug giving high system pressure.
• Flow cell windows of detectors to become dirty resulting in higher noise
levels (since the detector is the last module in the flow path, this
problem is less common).
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