Blood Collection Tube Separator Gel With ≤1000 ppm Solvent
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing blood collection tubes with separator gels contain hazardous solvents like toluene and N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone, exceeding safety limits, leading to contamination risks and health hazards, and require complex solvent separation processes.
Innovation Solution
A separator gel composed of an acrylate copolymer, silica, and silicone oil, with controlled residual solvent content ≤1000 ppm, ensuring non-hazardous classification, improved purity, and enhanced stability for efficient blood serum/plasma separation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional solvent separation processes are used to produce separator gel, then the separator gel can be manufactured, but hazardous solvents like toluene and N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone remain in excess amounts (>1000 ppm), causing health hazards and contamination risks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by implementing a multi-stage distillation process that systematically removes solvents through controlled heating and vaporization. The process changes temperature and pressure parameters across multiple stages to achieve progressive solvent removal, reducing residual solvent content from conventional levels (>1000 ppm) to the invention's specified level (≤1000 ppm), thereby eliminating hazardous substance classification while maintaining manufacturing feasibility
2Ease of manufacture
If separator gel with high solvent content is used, then the gel can be produced with simpler processes, but the gel provides unstable separation and contamination of blood samples
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies continuity of useful action through a multi-stage distillation process that continuously removes solvents in sequential stages. Each stage builds upon the previous one, progressively reducing solvent content while maintaining stable separation properties. This continuous approach ensures that the separator gel achieves both ease of manufacture through systematic processing and reliability through consistent, stable separation performance without contamination
3Object-affected harmful factors
If residual solvent content is reduced to ≤1000 ppm, then the separator gel becomes non-hazardous and safer to handle, but requires complex multistage distillation processes
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies segmentation by dividing the solvent removal process into multiple distinct stages, each targeting specific solvent removal objectives. This segmented approach systematically addresses different solvent types and concentrations through sequential distillation stages, making the complex task of achieving ≤1000 ppm residual solvent content manageable through structured, incremental processing rather than a single complex operation
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The gel provides a stable, non-hazardous separation layer that minimizes contamination, ensures high sample quality, and reduces health risks, enabling safer handling and reproducible clinical analyses.
Implementation Method 1
The separator gel at the bottom of the tube has a lower density than the coagulation proteins and blood cells aggregated during clotting, and during centrifugation passes between the blood cells and serum since its physical density is between the two fractions
Implementation Method 2
Due to the diffusion barrier formed by the separator gel, it is still possible to detect clinical chemistry analytes such as steroids, hormones, vitamins and medications even after a longer period of cooled storage
Data Source
AI summary
A separator gel for blood collection tubes for the separation of blood serum or blood plasma from blood cells is disclosed. The separator gel includes an acrylate copolymer, silica and silicone oil and/or at least one polyalkylene glycol. The separator gel contains ≤1000 ppm of solvent. A method for producing the separator gel, a blood collection tube with the separator gel, as well as a method for producing the acrylate copolymer are disclosed. For the purification of the acrylate copolymer at least one solvent is separated by multistage distillation, such that a residual solvent content of ≤1000 ppm is achieved.