Leading the way in eco-friendly autoclaves after 25 years

As Astell’s Ecofill range approaches another landmark anniversary of providing energy and water-efficient sterilisation, we look back at a quarter-century of green steam sterilisation. The range, featuring both benchtop and top-loading models, boasts a unique system that captures water from the autoclave chamber reservoir at the end of the sterilisation cycle. This preserves both the water and heat energy stored within the Ecofill tank, allowing for recycling in future cycles. Not only does this conserve water and electricity, but it also provides preheated water for future processes, reducing cycle times. Furthermore, by recycling water, the demand to manually refill the autoclave is reduced by 93%, saving staff time.

Over the years, the design has seen further enhancements to its efficiency. Physically, through minimising the required water to operate to a single Litre, the energy demand to generate sterilising steam has been reduced. Further savings are constantly being made through a program of continual software developments to optimise efficacy from the hardware, from tweaks to cycle processes to user features such as sleep mode for devices when not in use.

The AMB Ecofill Benchtop autoclave proved to be the star of the show at this year’s analytica, attracting positive comments from attendees. With a graphical side panel displaying the functionality of the unit, the Astell team explained the Ecofill mechanism to intrigued show-goers. “Now more than ever, we find that laboratories are looking for ways to eke out a little more efficiency from their hardware,” said Astell Sales and Marketing Director, Paul Birchmore. “The Astell Ecofill units continue to provide laboratory managers with these savings. What is more, with these devices requiring no plumbing and just operating from a domestic electricity supply, they can be installed into even the smallest laboratory with minimal effort.”

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