[Histonet] Re: CBG BIOTECH RECYCLER

[histotech <@t> imagesbyhopper.com]

Susan,

A few questions/comments:

1)  how do you test for the xylene for purity?
2)  we used to make different batches of 95/100 and 70/80%, but we gave up
on that!  It was too much effort for us.  We do well with the 95/100 though.
We generally will get 98% - 99% on ours.
3)  re: alcohol contaminated with xylene, yes, we do the same thing.  On our
stainer, we will discard the alcohol after deparaffinization, but keep the
alcohol prior to the xylene at the end of the staining run.
4)  are you hauling off both alcohol and xylene waste?  I have found I have
very little waste xylene.

Thanks!

Michelle

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Susan
Raibley
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 10:30 PM
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Subject: [Histonet] Re: CBG BIOTECH RECYCLER


We use the CBG Biotech Recycler to recycle formalin, alcohol and xylene and
they all turn out very nicely. We always assay/test each batch to make sure
it is ok to use. The xylene always comes out at 99.9% and we use it on all
stations of our processor and to stain with and have no problems. We collect
our waste alcohols as batches of 70% and 80% to be recycled together and
then 95% and 100% to be recycled together. Ususally we get back between 83%
and 98% from the reclaimed alcohol and dilute accordingly. We were told by
CBG Biotech Tech Support, there is no limit to how many times you can
recycle any of the products. Also, you can recycle xylene with paraffin in
it, but DO NOT recycle any alcohol contaminated with xylene. We do not
recycle any alcohol off the stainer or the cleaning alcohol off the
processors. The waste we end up with that cannot be recycled goes in the 55
gal. barrels to be hauled off for proper disposal. Hope this helps!

Susan Bincsik, HT (ASCP)